Dennis Wheatley - The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

Roger smiled his most winning smile. "I've never doubted that, Sir, and I trust that in my own case, whatever you may suspect to be the object of my visit here, you will not disclose your thoughts to others."

"Not so fast, young man," the Admiral frowned. "If I catch you seeking information regarding the Fleet and its objectives in next winter's campaign against the Turks, I'll regard it as no less than my duty to the Empress to hang you from a yard-arm."

"You may be at rest on that score," Roger volunteered. "My mission is political and diplomatic rather than military. Indeed, I am charged to do no more than assess the feelings of the Court on various inter­national problems."

"Stick to such matters and I'll regard it as no affair of mine," said the Admiral gruffly. "But please to understand that the Fleet and the port of Cronstadt are barred to you."

" 'Tis a limit that I will willingly observe; and I thank you, Sir, for placing no other restriction upon me."

The Admiral shrugged. " Tis no part of my duty to prevent Court gossip finding its way to Whitehall; but, if I may advise you, I would suggest that you should seek to learn something of the Russian character before endeavouring to assess the value of such rumours as you may pick up. Your ignorance of it .was clearly demonstrated by your demanding satisfaction of me a while back; and you will find many other traits in them which will appear fantastic to your English mind."

"In that I'd be prodigious grateful for any guidance you may care to give me," Roger said quickly.

"To start with then, there is no such thing as honour among the Russians. Neither man's nor woman's word is to be relied upon; so put your trust in no one. They lie more often than they tell the truth, and not from any sense of malice, but partly from habit and partly from the amusement it affords them. There is a law against gambling, yet it remains the principal national pastime, and rich and poor indulge their passion for it alike. Their improvidence is only equalled by their hospitality, and within a week you will find a dozen well-served tables at every one of which you will be welcome by merely appearing at meal-times every day. In fact the rich nobles measure their prestige by the number of hangers-on they can collect and feed gratis at their tables."

"Surely that robs their hospitality of much of its merit?" Roger remarked.

"You are right there, lad. 'Tis mere childish vanity and ostentation which prompts the majority of them to it. And worse, in many cases, since some of them expect their guests to take a hand at cards with them after supper every night, and seek to recoup themselves for the price of the meal by playing on credit."

Roger gave the Admiral a puzzled look. "I fail to see, Sir, how that can benefit them; since, if they are losers, they must settle up just the same in the long run."

"Not a bit of it," laughed the Admiral. "I tell you that the word, 'honour' has no equivalent in the Russian tongue. If you indulge in gambling and are fool enough to let one of your opponents play on credit, should he lose, it is entirely at his option whether he pays you his debt later, or not. Should he decline and you complain of it, every­one else will simply laugh at you, and he will go up in their estimation as a clever fellow. What is more, they boast openly of their ability at cheating, and are always on the look out for gullible strangers from whom -they may make a picking."

"I would that I had known this a few months back," Roger said, with a rueful grin. "I lost three hundred guineas one night to Count Vorontzoff, the Russian Ambassador to the Court of St. James. Had I but been aware that I could have so lightly laughed off the debt the following morning, it would have saved myself and others a multitude of complications."

"That would be Count Sergius Vorontzoff," remarked Mr. Tooke. "His father was the last Grand Chancellor. No other has been appointed since his death and the powers of the post are more or less shared by Prince Potemkin and Count Bezborodko, who succeeded Count Panin as the Empress's principal adviser on Foreign affairs. The latter is a connection of the Vorontzoff's, and the family's influence is still very great. One of the old man's daughters is the celebrated Princess Dashkof. At the age of eighteen she played a leading part in the con­spiracy which placed Catherine on the throne. Her sister, Elizeveta Romanovna, was Peter the Third's mistress while he was Grand Duke, and during his short reign; and the other brother, Count Alexander, is the head of the College of Commerce."

"It seems strange to think that so violent a man as Count Sergius has a brother who is a Professor," Roger remarked, "and stranger still that a country so backward as Russia should have a college devoted to training young men to enter trade."

"Nay," Mr. Tooke smiled. "You are mistaken on both counts. Here, when one speaks of the College of Commerce, or War or Justice, one means the Government department, and the head of each is the responsible Minister. Yet the present Empress, herself a woman of quite exceptional culture, has performed prodigies in improving educational facilities. In addition to greatly increasing the number of military, naval and agricultural schools, she has instituted academies -of Medicine, Mines, Teaching, Art and the Theatre, and even founded a seminary for young ladies of the nobility. So that nearly seven thousand pupils now receive their education at the expense of the Imperial purse; as once nominated to these institutions there are no fees to pay, the whole cost being borne by the Empress."

"Russia certainly seems a land of extraordinary contrasts," said Roger, thoughtfully.

"You will indeed find it so," nodded the Admiral. "Nine out of ten of the acquaintances you make will entertain you most hospitably one day, yet not scruple to steal your snuff-box the next. So light-fingered are they by habit that after eating your food they will think nothing of pocketing your table-silver the minute your back is turned. My wife and I found ourselves at such loss through this that we took an early opportunity to have made in Leith several dozen spoons and forks of base metal, especially for use when entertaining Russians."

"They are even more inveterate cheats than they are thieves, opined Mr. Tooke. " 'Tis the common practice among merchants to ask foreigners five times the proper price for any article, in the hope that the buyer will think it a good bargain if he can secure it by offering half that sum, and only later discover that he has paid more than double its real value. Worst of all are the rasnoshchiks , as the street-vendors are called. They will offer you a box of tea, which on being carried home will be found to have only a sprinkling of tea-leaves on the surface, the rest of the box being filled with sand and wood-shavings. They are adepts at pumping air into chickens so that the eye is tempted by what appears to be a fat capon, when in reality 'tis but a scraggy old hen wasted to near nothing from rearing her last brood of chicks. In my early days here I even had a bundle of asparagus sold to me, which, at a casual glance, looked in prime condition for the table.

'Twas not till my wife was about to put it to boil that we discovered the edible tips to have already been removed, and the woody stumps repointed and painted."

Roger threw up his hands with a laugh. "Tell me no more, Gentle­men, I beg; for it seems I am come to a veritable sink of iniquity. Yet I thank you for your warnings, and will endeavour to buy my own experience as cheaply as possible."

"I must be on my way," declared the Admiral, getting to his feet. "Mr. Brook, my barouche is at the door, can I carry you in it to the centre of the city, or have you further business to discuss with our good friend?"