Dennis Wheatley - The Rape Of Venice

In Paris these blood-​stained criminals congregated regularly at the Pantheon Club to discuss measures for their mutual protection, and their numbers had been swollen to over four thousand by other ex-​Jacobins being driven from the Provinces seeking refuge in the capital.

As Roger had known, since it was his business to do so, there existed a secret club within the club, which was known as the Societe des Egaux. Among its most prominent members were 'Gracchus' Babeuf, the editor of the Tribune du Peuple, Antonelle, an ex-​juryman of the Revolutionary Tribunal, and Jean-​Antoine Rossignol who, as a General of the Convention, had ordered whole villages in La Vende to be burnt with their inhabitants in them. These, and others of their kidney, had planned yet another revolution, in which the Directors and the Corps Legislatif were to be murdered and a Government of Anarchists set up.

They had endeavoured to win over the six-​thousand-​strong Legion of Police which was stationed at Grenelle, and was also largely composed of ex-​terrorists. In May, owing to its semi-​mutinous condition, the Legion had been broken up and one of the agents employed to corrupt it informed Carnot of the conspiracy. The Directory had acted promptly and on the eve of the insurrection had arrested Babeuf and his friends; so temporarily, at least, the capital had been saved from further bloodshed, and the Whites were still in the ascendant.

While listening to the rather garbled account of this conspiracy, Roger felt as though he were being told of events in another world. He had known both Antonelle and Rossignol and, little more than six months ago, had been on intimate terms with Barras, Carnot, Dubois-​Crance and a dozen others of the 'moderates' who had now taken over the leadership of the Revolution; but during the long voyage he had hardly given them a thought. General Buonaparte's Italian campaign and Mr. Pitt's idea of securing the Serene Republic as an ally had, too, soon lost interest for him, simply because he had no possible chance of learning how matters were progressing.

During the next few days the company made up excursions to see the sights in the vicinity, riding through wooded country in which there were many trees and plants strange to them, to the vineyards at Constantia and to False Bay, and making the ascent of Table Mountain in basket chairs borne by native bearers.

On September 14th Clarissa was duly married to Sidney Winters. Roger, with a reluctance which he found it difficult to conceal, gave her away and, with a genuine good will inspired by secret pity, did his utmost now to show friendliness to the bridegroom. A guard of honour was formed by Clarissa's officer admirers, Roger paid for the reception at the Residence, to which all the Minerva's passengers were invited, and stood free beer to the troops and crew. Half the town also turned out, so as the newly-​wed couple drove away they were cheered by over a thousand people, and by six o'clock in the evening the greater part of them, both inside as well as outside the Residence, were well on their way to getting drunk. Except for Roger, and a few more thoughtful people, like the Beaumont’s, who feared that a union between parties so divergent in age and circumstances could bring no lasting happiness, the whole affair was a roaring success.

On the evening of the 16th the Minerva sailed again. That afternoon, on coming aboard, Clarissa had greeted everyone with a good display of cheerfulness, but her face was pale and behind her smile Roger saw signs of strain in her blue eyes. She went straight to the double cabin that she was now to share with Winters, and it was not until the ship had sailed that Roger managed to get her a little apart from the other passengers for a few moments.

As they stood side by side watching the little town beneath the great mountain gradually becoming more indistinct in the evening light, he asked in a low voice:

'Is all well with you? For the past forty-​eight hours I have been consumed with anxiety on your account. Though I could not stop you, short of making us both notorious for the rest of our lives by creating some frightful scene, I've cursed myself a thousand times for letting you carry out your plan."

'I hated every moment of it,' she replied in an equally low tone. 'He is uncouth beyond anything I had imagined. But I have no right to complain. I brought it on myself.'

'What happened?' Roger snapped out the question. 'Did he go back on his agreement with you? If so, I'll wring his neck and throw him overboard.'

'Be careful!' she whispered. 'Keep your voice low or someone will overhear us. No; he did not attempt to break his word. On the first night he could not have, even if he had had a mind to. After we had dined with the Marais he became drunk as a hog and was, incapable of even undressing himself.'

'You must blame me for that,' Roger murmured. 'I feared that the excitement of having you to himself in a bedroom for the first time might prove too much for him; so I laced his drink at the reception. After that it was odds on that, unless he stuck to water with his dinner, more wine would bowl him over.'

'Then I'm grateful to you. It saved me during the first night from anything more unpleasant than his being sick on the floor, then snoring till morning like a grampus!'

'But what of the second?'

'I have survived it, so I beg you not to worry; but it was a hideous experience. He maintained, fairly I suppose, that my bargain with him that we should not consummate our marriage for a year did not debar him from kissing me, and taking other liberties. I submitted for a while with the best grace that I could, then evaded his further unpleasant attentions by pretending I had the vapours. But it is his habits I find so repulsive. He slobbers, belches and conceals nothing of himself, maintaining that a husband and wife when alone should be natural with one another.'

'Clarissa! This cannot be allowed to continue.' Roger's blue eyes had gone a shade darker than usual, and his finger nails were digging into the palms of his hands. 'I feel such shame for this business as I have never felt before in my whole life. How we ever allowed ourselves to get into such a ghastly tangle, I cannot think.'

'It is my fault. I should never have pursued you onto the Minerva.'

'In the first place, yes. But I am the man of the party, and am supposed to have some brains. I should never have let matters come to this.'

'You could not help it. You offered to marry me before we landed in Cape Town. You could not have done more.'

'I could have disclosed the truth to Winters, then sworn to cut his gizzard out if he breathed one word of it. Had he known your reason for accepting him he would have backed out of his engagement. I wish to God I'd thought of that.'

'Well, as you didn't, I've made my bed and must lie on it.'

'No! There's a way out yet. It's not too late for us to land again in Cape Town. I'll see Captain Finch and pay him whatever he asks to have a boat lowered to take us back there.'

'Roger, no! That would indeed be madness. I am Mrs. Winters now. The scandal you have so long sought to avoid would be ten times as great as if we had been discovered as lovers before my marriage. It would stink to high heavens, and we'd never live it down. Should you do as you suggest, I'll refuse to come with you. For me the worst is already over. I'll not have to share a double bed with him again. Things will be easier for me now we'll occupy a cabin and sleep in separate bunks. I warn you, I won't come, I swear it.'

At that moment Winters came waddling up to them, bringing an abrupt end to their private conversation.

After a few days, Life on shipboard settled down to normal. Clarissa's old admirers soon got over the shock they had sustained by their divinity's strange choice of a husband, and once more clustered around, discreetly flirting with her as they would have with any other pretty young married woman. Winters looked on, beaming with self-​satisfaction and the pride of ownership. Roger, too, frequently joined the group. Previously he had been ultra cautious from fear that an unguarded word or glance might arouse suspicions that he and Clarissa had some secret understanding; but now she was just married such an idea would have been so preposterous that he felt it safe to spend much more time in her company.