Dennis Wheatley - The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

Yet, for him, her orders amounted to a savage double sentence. The thought of Siberia was, in itself, bad enough. Its terrible desolation; the incredible cold which was said to hold all life there in its grip for eight months of every year; the miserable little towns composed solely of wooden buildings; the lack of cultured society; its uncouth, fur-clad, bear-like inhabitants; the vast distance that it lay from all the capitals of the civilised world. And, in his case, the hardship of exile to this remote and barren land was to be accentuated a hundred-fold by being permanently tied to a cruel and violent woman to whom he was hardly even physically attracted any longer.

Had he been himself, the moment the two women had left himhe would have pulled on his clothes and made his bid to escape. As it was he was still feeling sick and giddy, and his mind was half-stunned by the succession of violent shocks that it had sustained. He lost several precious moments before he began to dress, wondering if he dared beg the Empress to rescind her order that he should marry Natalia, and he had only just finished dressing when the chance to get away was suddenly reft from him.

Old Katerina Ivanovna suddenly walked in, slammed the door behind her, then stood there for three whole minutes, cursing him for the idiotic way in which he had allowed an intrigue with a lady-in-waiting to ruin his golden prospects with the Empress.

He was too tired to attempt any explanation; and when the old harridan told him to leave his things where they were and come with her, he obediently followed her out into the corridor.

She led him past the entrance of the Court theatre and up some stairs to a landing on which two sentries were pacing to and fro. Opening a door, she led him into a comfortably furnished bedroom; then she said:

"You will sleep here. Your marriage will take place at Her Majesty's usual chapel-hour to-morrow, and she will honour you with her presence. On peril of your life you will say nothing to anyone of what has taken place to-night, or that you have been ordered into exile. The Empress is always most averse to any scandal in connection with her love-affairs, and has forbidden her ladies to mention the matter. The public ceremony is designed to counteract any rumours that she threw her cap at you and you threw it back at her. Had it been myself that you had so insulted I would have had you beaten with the battagues until your backbone was a pulp." Having delivered herself of these malicious sentiments, she left him.

Going to the window he saw that it looked out on a small interior courtyard to which there was no exit, and that it was. a twenty-foot drop to the flagstones below. Even if he could have accomplished the descent without breaking his neck he now had neither his money nor his sword with him, so he was forced to abandon as hopeless any further thought of escape.

Wearily pulling off his clothes he tumbled into bed and lay there turning over wildly impossible schemes for evading the hateful marriage that had been arranged for him. After a while the sleeping-draught took effect and he fell into a troubled slumber, in which he dreamed that he had fallen through a hole in the ice of a frozen river, and that Natalia Andreovna was standing on the bank laughing at his futile efforts to save himself from drowning.

He was awakened by two footmen, one of whom drew back the curtains and began to tidy the room while the other brought him breakfast. He ate it in a half-dazed state while grimly going over in his mind the nerve-racking events of the preceding night. No sooner had he finished than the German doctor came in. Having examined Roger and pronounced him fit to resume his normal activities, he spent some time in questioning him as to what he had eaten the day before, in a fruitless effort to trace the cause of the attack. When he had gone the two footmen returned with Roger's baggage and offered to help him dress. Only then did he realise that he had been left to sleep late and that it was already half-past nine. A quarter of an hour later a barber arrived to do his hair, and on the completion of his toilette the two Chevalier guards who had escorted him from Schlusselburg appeared.

Whether or not they knew of the great elevation that had been planned for him they said nothing of it; but they smilingly con­gratulated him on having received his pardon and on his forthcoming marriage. A tray with wine, vodka and pastries stuffed with caviare was then brought in and his visitors drank his health.

After two glasses of wine he felt somewhat better; but, rack his brains as he would, he could still think of no way to escape making the green-eyed Baroness Stroganof into Mrs. Roger Brook; and now there was no further time to do so, as one of his companions remarked that the hour had come for them to proceed to the chapel.

As they left the room Roger placed himself between them and they took him through the covered passage that led to the parent palace, then along several corridors till they reached a pair of doors that opened into the Imperial basilica.

A huge painting of God the Father occupied the whole ceiling and a row of gilt Ionic columns soared to it on either side, but an incon­gruous note was struck by the walls being covered with tawdry and ill-executed pictures of Russian saints. A gilt rail ran across its far end, in front of the great gilded doors of the sanctuary, and the body of the chapel was already filled with the Empress's brilliantly-clad household.

On Roger's entrance the ceremony opened with solemn vocal music, no other being permitted in the Greek church, but two double lines of richly-robed choristers made up amply for the deficiency. His companions conducted him to the rail and he had scarcely reached it when a stir behind him caused him to turn his head. Followed by half-a-dozen young women of her own age, Natalia Andreovna was advancing towards him. She was dressed in white brocade, the figuring of which was outlined in gold thread; on her head she wore a big hooped headdress sparkling with gold and jewels.

Despite all his bitter thoughts of her Roger felt his breath catch at the sight of her loveliness.

As he bowed to her the voices of the choristers swelled to a mighty-paean and the Empress entered. On reaching the rail she passed through it by a gate and took her place alone under a richly-decorated canopy to the south side of the holy doors. They swung open displaying the penetralia of the temple; a picture of the descent from the Cross and an altar covered with golden tissue. A number of vener­able, long-bearded priests, wearing vestments and bun-like mitres that blazed with precious stones, then appeared. By the Greek ritual no one is allowed to sit in church, so there were no seats, even for the Empress; but as the ceremony proceeded, the congregation seemed in a state of almost constant genuflexion as it responded to the prayers and loud ejaculations of the priests.

Roger found himself dipping with the rest. Someone had given him a long candle to hold and produced a ring. Crowns were held over their heads; as in a dream he repeated a number of phrases after the most gorgeously-clad priest, was given a Bible to kiss and placed the ring on Natalia's finger.

He wondered if he was now really married to her or if he could regard this alien service as not binding upon him. But he recalled the Reverend William Tooke having told him how he had once stood sponsor at the christening of a Roman Catholic child, and feared that his having gone through this ceremony with apparent willingness must make it as legal as any other.

Nevertheless these thoughts gave him an idea, and while the chant­ing and genuflecting continued he swiftly developed it. At last the priests retired within the temple and the holy doors swung to behind them. As the Empress left her place Roger watched her anxiously. He had a boon to ask, but having observed the air of devout humility that she had affected during the service, he feared that she might take it ill if he threw himself on his knees before her while she was still in church.