Boris Akunin: The Winter Queen

From the exultant crowd of idle boasters

Who stain their hands with others' crimson blood,

Lead me into the camp of love's promoters

Who perish for the greater cause of good.

And now there was the familiar building with the wrought-iron gates and the manservant in the blue uniform beside the striped sentry box.

"Where can I find Lady Astair?" Fandorin cried, leaning down from his seat. "In the Astair House or in her rooms?"

"About this time her ladyship's usually in her rooms," the gatekeeper replied with a jaunty salute, and the carriage rumbled on into the quiet side street.

At the two-story administration wing Fandorin ordered the coachman to wait, and warned him that he might be waiting for some time.

The same self-important doorman whom her ladyship called Timofei was idling about beside the door. However, unlike on the previous occasion he was not warming himself in the sunshine but had moved into the shade, for the June sun beat down with a heat considerably greater than in May.

On this occasion Timofei also behaved quite differently, demonstrating a remarkable psychological talent. He doffed his peaked cap, bowed, and asked in an obsequious voice how he should announce the visitor. Evidently something had changed in Erast Fandorin's appearance in the course of the previous month, and he no longer aroused in the doorkeeping tribe an instinctive urge to seize hold of him and deny him admittance.

"No need to announce me. I'll go straight through."

Timofei bent himself double and flung open the doors without a murmur, admitting the visitor into the damask-upholstered entrance hall, from where Erast Fandorin followed the bright sunlit corridor to the familiar white-and-gold door. It opened to greet him, and a lanky individual wearing the same light blue livery and white stockings as Timofei fixed the new arrival with an inquisitive eye.

"Fandorin, officer of the Third Section, on urgent business," Erast Fandorin announced austerely. However, the lackey's equine features remained impassive, and Fandorin was obliged to explain in English. "State police, Inspector Fandorin, on urgent official business."

Again not a single muscle trembled in the stony face, although the meaning of what was said had been understood. The footman inclined his head primly and disappeared behind the door, closing the two leaves tightly behind him.

Half a minute later they opened again. Standing in the doorway was Lady Astair herself. On seeing her old acquaintance she gave a happy smile.

"Oh, it's you, my dear boy. Andrew said it was some important gentleman from the secret police. Come in, come in. How are you? Why do you look so tired?"

"I've come straight from the Petersburg train, my lady," Fandorin began to explain as he walked through into the study. "Straight from the station to see you. The matter is very urgent indeed."

"Oh, yes," the baroness said, nodding sadly, as she seated herself in an armchair and gestured for her guest to take a seat facing her. "Of course, you wish to talk to me about dear Gerald Cunningham. It's all like some terrible dream. I can't understand it at all… Andrew, take the gentleman's hat… This is an old and trusted servant of mine, who has just arrived from England. My splendid Andrew — I missed him very badly. Leave us, Andrew. Go, my friend — you are not needed for the moment."

The skeletal Andrew, who appeared anything but splendid to Fandorin, bowed and withdrew. Fandorin squirmed in the hard armchair, trying to make himself more comfortable — the conversation promised to be long and drawn out.

"My lady, I am greatly saddened by what has happened. However, Mr. Cunningham, your closest deputy of many years, has proved to be involved in an extremely serious criminal plot."

"And now you will close down my Russian Astair Houses?" her ladyship asked in a quiet voice. "My God, what will become of the children? They have barely even begun to grow accustomed to a normal life. And there are so many talented individuals among them! I shall appeal to the emperor himself. Perhaps I may be permitted to take my wards abroad."

"Pray do not alarm yourself unnecessarily," said Erast Fandorin in a gentle voice. "Nothing will happen to your Astair Houses. After all, that would simply be criminal. All I wish to do is to ask you some questions about Cunningham."

"But of course! Anything at all. Poor Gerald… You know, he came from a very good family, the grandson of a baronet, but his parents were drowned on their way back from India and the boy was left an orphan at the age of eleven. In England we have very stringent laws of inheritance. Everything goes to the eldest son — the title and the fortune — and the younger children often don't have a penny to their names. Gerald was the youngest son of a youngest son, without any means or any house. His relatives took no interest in him… I was just writing to send my condolences to his uncle, an absolutely worthless gentleman, who showed not the slightest concern for Gerald. But what can one do? We English place such importance on the formalities." Lady Astair showed him a sheet of paper covered with large, old-fashioned handwriting with curlicues and intricate flourishes. "In short, I took the child in. Gerald was discovered to have exceptional mathematical abilities and I thought he would become a professor, but a quick wit and ambition are not the best foundation for a scientific career. I soon noticed that the boy was respected by other children, that he enjoyed being in charge. He possessed an innate talent for leadership: uncommon willpower and discipline, the ability to discern unerringly the strong and weak sides of another person's character. He was elected head boy at the Manchester Astair House. I had expected that Gerald would choose to enter the state service or take up politics. He would have made an excellent colonial official and in time, perhaps, even a governor-general. You can imagine my surprise when he expressed the desire to remain with me and make education his field."

"But of course," Fandorin said with a nod. "In that way he was able to impose his influence on the immature minds of children and afterward maintain contact with his ex-pupils — " Erast Fandorin stopped in mid-sentence, struck by a sudden realization. God, how simple it all was! How amazing that he hadn't seen it before!

"Very soon Gerald became my irreplaceable lieutenant," her ladyship continued, not noticing the change in Fandorin's expression. "What a devoted, tireless worker! And a rare linguistic talent — without him I would have found it quite impossible to keep track of the work of our branches in so many countries. I know that his enemy was always vaunting ambition. It was a reaction to his childhood suffering, a desire to prove to his relatives that he would achieve everything without their help. I could sense it — I could sense the strange disparity: with all his ability and ambition he ought not to have been content with the humble role of a teacher, even one with a very decent salary."

Erast Fandorin, however, was no longer listening. It was as if an electric lamp had been switched on in his head, illuminating everything that had previously been submerged in darkness. Everything fitted into place! Senator Dobbs appearing out of nowhere, the French admiral who had "lost his memory," the Turkish effendi of unknown origin, and Brilling as well — yes, yes, him, too! Aliens? Martians? Visitants from beyond the grave? Nothing of the sort! They were all ex-pupils of Astair Houses, that was who they were! They were foundlings, only they had not been abandoned at the door of an orphanage but quite the reverse: the orphanage had planted them in society. Each one had been given appropriate training; each one possessed an ingeniously identified and painstakingly nurtured talent! It was no accident that Jean Intrepide had been abandoned in the path of a French frigate — evidently the youth was an exceptionally gifted sailor. For some reason, though, it had been necessary to conceal where the talented youth had come from. But then the reason was clear enough! If the world were to discover how many men making brilliant careers had been bred in Lady Astair's nursery, it would inevitably have been alerted. But in this way everything appeared to happen quite naturally. With a nudge in the right direction, the talent was certain to manifest itself. That was why every one of the cohort of "orphans" had achieved such astounding success in his profession. That was why it was so important for them to report to Cunningham about their advancement in their careers — in that way they were validating their own worth, the correctness of the choice that had been made! And it was entirely natural that the only genuine loyalty any of these geniuses knew was to their own community. It was their only family, the family that had protected them against a cruel world, raised and developed the inimitable individual personality of each of them. What a family it was — almost four thousand scattered throughout the world! Well done indeed to Cunningham and his "talent for leadership"! But stop —