Part 2 (1/2)
”Our women, Trewinnard, are, alas! not like women of the people,” was the Sovereign's calm reply, his deep, earnest eyes upon mine. ”It is their misfortune that they are not. They can never enjoy the same freedom as those fortunate ones of the middle-cla.s.s; they seldom are permitted to marry the man they love, and though they may live in palaces and move amid the gay society of Court, yet their ideas are warped from birth, and broken hearts, alas! beat beneath their diamonds.”
”Yes, I suppose what Your Majesty says is, alas! too true. Ladies of the blood-royal are forbidden freedom, love and happiness. And when one of them happens to break the iron bonds of conventionality, then scandal quickly results; the Press overflows with it.”
”In this case scandal would already have resulted had you not acted as promptly as you did,” His Majesty said. ”Where is that lad Geoffrey Hamborough now?” asked the autocrat suddenly.
”Living on his father's estate in Yorks.h.i.+re,” I replied. ”I hope I have been able to put an end to that fatal folly; but with a girl of the Grand d.u.c.h.ess's type one can never be too certain.”
”Ah! the mischievous little minx!” exclaimed the Emperor with a kindly smile. ”I've watched, and seen how cunning she is--and how she has cleverly misled even me. Well, she must alter, Trewinnard, she must alter--or she must be sent away to the Caucasus.”
”Where she would have her freedom, and probably flirt more outrageously than ever,” I ventured to remark.
”You seem to regard her as hopeless,” he said, looking sharply into my eyes as he leaned back in his chair.
”Not entirely hopeless, Sire, only as a most interesting character study.”
”I have been speaking to her father this morning, and I have suggested sending her to Paris, or, perhaps, to London; there to live _incognito_ under the guardians.h.i.+p of some responsible middle-aged person, until she can settle down. At present she flirts with every man she meets, and I am greatly concerned about her.”
”Every man is ready to flirt with Her Imperial Highness--first, because of her position, and, secondly, because of her remarkable beauty,” I a.s.sured him.
”You think her beautiful--eh, Trewinnard?”
”I merely echo the popular judgment,” I replied. ”It is said she is one of the most beautiful girls in all Russia.”
”Ah!” he laughed. ”Next we shall have her flirting with you, Trewinnard. You are a bachelor. Do beware of the little dark-eyed witch, I beg of you!”
”No fear of such _contretemps_, Sire,” I a.s.sured him with a smile. ”I am double her age, and, moreover, a confirmed bachelor. The Emba.s.sy is expensive, and I cannot afford the luxury of a wife--and especially an Imperial Grand d.u.c.h.ess.”
”Who knows--eh, Trewinnard? Who knows?” exclaimed the Sovereign good-naturedly. ”But let's return to the point. Am I to understand that you are ready and willing to execute this secret commission for me?
You are well aware how highly I value the confidential services you have already rendered to me. But for you, remember, I should to-day have been a dead man.”
”No, Sire,” I protested. ”Please do not speak of that. It was the intervention of Providence for your protection.”
”Ah, yes!” he said in a low, fervent tone, his brows contracting. ”I thank G.o.d constantly for sparing me for yet another day from the hands of my unscrupulous enemies, so that I may work for the good of the beloved nation over which I am called to rule.”
There, in that room, wherein I had so often listened to his words of wisdom, I sat fully recognising that though an Emperor and an autocrat, he was, above all, a Man.
With all the heavy burden of affairs of State--and not even a road could be made anywhere in the Russian Empire, or a bridge built, or a gas-pipe laid, without his signature--with all the onus of the autocratic Sovereign-power upon his shoulders, and with that constant wariness which he was compelled to exercise against that cunning camarilla of Ministers, yet one of his chief concerns was with that pretty little madcap Natalia, daughter of his brother, the Grand Duke Nicholas.
He wished to suppress her superabundance of high spirits and stamp out her tomboy instincts.
”I am reading your thoughts, Trewinnard,” the Emperor remarked at last, pressing his cigarette-end slowly into the silver ashtray to extinguish it. ”My request has placed you in a rather awkward position--eh?”
”What Your Majesty has revealed to me this afternoon has utterly amazed me. I feel bewildered, for I see how dire must be the result if the truth were ever betrayed.”
”It will never be. You are the only person who has suspicion of it besides myself.”
”And I shall never speak--never!” I a.s.sured him gravely.
”I know that you are entirely loyal to me. I am Emperor, it is true, but I am, nevertheless, a man of my word, just as you are,” he replied, his intelligent face dark and grave. ”Yes. I thought you would realise the seriousness of the present situation, and I know that you alone I can trust. I have not even told the Empress.”
”Why not?”