Dennis Wheatley - The wanton princess

'Of that I am aware,' Roger replied in a low voice. 'But it cannot have escaped Your Excellency that his rule has made him many enemies among his own people. Should God in His wisdom decree a chance of government here. I might be able to carry back to my Lord Grenville a very different answer.'

Having no official position Roger could not claim dip­lomatic immunity, so it was a most dangerous suggestion to have made. But, after the Czar. Count Pahlen was the most powerful man in Russia, and Roger had decided that this was his one big chance of getting to grips with his mission.

The minister's smile left his face and, after a moment, he said, 'You are a bold man. Mr. Brook. In this country even to voice such a thought could be accounted a crime.'

Keeping his deep blue eyes fixed unwaveringly on those of the Count, Roger replied, 'I am confident that Your Excel­lency, too, would run great risks in the interests of your country and for the chance of restoring happiness to a vast number of people. I pray you at least to afford me an opportunity to put before you certain possibilities.'

'Do you speak German or French?' asked the Count

'German well enough and French fluently.'

'Very well, then. German would be better. Be at my residence one hour after midnight and enquire for Alexis in that language. He will bring you to me and I will listen to what you have to say.'

Roger murmured his thanks, they exchanged bows and the minister moved away.

For the remainder of the evening Roger continued to cir­culate among the guests, renewing an old acquaintance here and there and, through them, making a number of new ones. Moving slowly about the large, lofty rooms there were several hundred people and at the buffets the supplies of food and drink were ample; but the guests did not appear to be enjoying themselves. There was little laughter and an air of uneasy restraint seemed to afflict the whole company; so Roger found himself comparing the scene with those he had witnessed at the Winter Palace and the Hermitage in the days of the great Catherine.

The uniforms of her reign had been much more varied and brilliant, and the fetes she and her favourites gave spectacles to marvel at. Lofty apartments were turned into Indian temples and indoor gardens, where tropical fish swam in great glass vases. Thousands of candles in huge crystal chandeliers had lit the scene. After the formal dances, led by the Empress herself, there were wonderful ballets each costing a fortune, parades of Kalmucks, Tartars, Circassians and all the other peoples of her Empire in their colourful tribal costumes. Then jugglers and acrobats performed their feats and Cossacks danced the Trepak to the wild music of gipsy bands. The long tables groaned under their weight of fantastic culinary creations on dishes of gold and silver, and the cham­pagne flowed like water. At midnight the common people were let in by the hundred, given food and wine and presents of money, household articles and clothes. After the Empress retired the party became one vast drunken orgy, but it was not without reason that her people cried, 'Czarina, live for ever.'

Yet most of the time Roger's thoughts were on his coming interview with Count Pahlen, and he wondered with con­siderable anxiety whether he would emerge from it a free man.

At one o'clock in the morning he roused the sleepy night porter at the Count's palace, asked in German for Herr Alexis and. after a short wail, a lanky, grey-haired man showed him into the Minister's cabinet. Pahlen had discarded his stiff Court dress and put on a loose chamber robe. Waving Roger to a chair, he said at once:

'Now, Mr. Brook, let me hear what your Government has to offer that might induce Russia to change her policy.'

'A considerable modification of the measures that now seriously interfere with Russia's commerce on the high seas. Your Excellency,' Roger replied, 'and the return in good shape of the Russian troops now detained in the Channel Islands.'

'That is not much,' shrugged the Count, 'and would not weigh a straw with my present master.'

'Ah!' exclaimed Roger boldly. 'Your Excellency has brought us to the crux of the whole matter. You will surely not contest that the Czar Paul is rapidly leading Russia to ruin? Nine-tenths of your trade is already at a standstill. The fascination that General Bonaparte exercises on him may well prove disastrous. As allies, any troops he may send into western Europe must mingle with the French. Whatever change may have taken place in the First Consul's own views, his army is still imbued with the doctrines of the Revolution: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity". You may depend upon it that your troops will be infected by their views and on return to their own country stage revolts which must end in the destruction of your system, under which by far the greater part of the Russian people lives in a state of serfdom.'

Count Pahlen nodded, 'In that being a danger, I agree with you.'

'Yet it is not that alone which must be a matter of great concern to you,' Roger hurried on. 'There is the parlous state to which the Russian nobility has been reduced. I learn that within the past few years, not scores but hundreds of them have been sent to exile in Siberia.' He then related the scene he had witnessed two nights before in Captain Muriavieff's apartments and continued, 'Such arbitrary dismissals must immensely weaken your army when it is brought into battle, and by them the whole hierarchy under which Russia has grown great is systematically being destroyed. In this I tell Your Excellency nothing that you do not already know, and must surely feel calls for swift redress.'

With a grim little smile the Minister asked, 'What remedy for this, Mr. Brook, do you propose?'

'I'll make no bones about it,' Roger replied firmly. 'You should depose the Emperor and install the Grand Duke Alexander as Czar in his place.'

'Your proposal has no novelty,' the Count said with a heavy sigh. 'Your last Ambassador, Lord Whitworth, urged such a step upon me before his departure, and numerous other people have done so in secret. But a coup d’etat of this kind is fraught with difficulties and dangers. The Grand Duke Alexander has no reason to love his father. In character the two bear no resemblance. On that account the Czar has always disliked and distrusted his son. The more so as he is aware that, but for the Empress Catherine's last illness having taken her off somewhat suddenly, Alexander would have succeeded in his place. Her Majesty had already had documents drafted to set aside her son and install her grandson on the throne. Alexander was aware of this but, being a youth of high integrity, refused to lend himself to supplanting his father. That is still his attitude. I have already sounded him on the subject several times, but he remains adamant in his resistance to proposals that we should depose his father and make him Czar. And, without his consent, such an act could lead to the death of all concerned in it.'

'I am much encouraged,' Roger said, 'by Your Excellency having confided in me that you are in favour of deposing his present Majesty, and I appreciate your difficulty. May I hope, though, that you will continue to urge upon the Grand

Duke the necessity of agreeing to this project for the salvation of his country?'

'You may, Mr. Brook; for our situation becomes more disturbing every day. But what of yourself? Whereabouts in the city have you a lodging?'

'In the English Factory, with the Reverend James Peabody, who has most kindly given me hospitality these past few days. But I am loath to burden him with my presence much longer and am seeking other accommodation.'

Count Pahlen thought for a few moments, then he said, 'As our only link with the Government of England I would like you to remain on in St. Petersburg, pending possible eventualities: but it is important that no suspicion be aroused regarding the reason for your presence here. In view of the present breach between Russia and England your pretence of being only a casual traveller is liable to become suspect before long; and it is most undesirable that the Czar's secret police should become interested in your movements. I think the safest plan would be for you to remove to my country house outside the city, as there you would be free from police surveillance. But I cannot place full reliance on my own staff, and it might arouse undesirable comment if it were known that I had an English guest there.'