Dennis Wheatley - The Shadow of Tyburn Tree

He laughed. " 'Twas easy to guess, but you shall have your kiss and more like it as soon as we have finished this dish of creamed rowanberries. Tell me, what are your feelings now towards the Count?"

"I have none," she shrugged. "You know as well as I that-you have made me love you to distraction. There is no place in my heart for other lovers, old or new. Should it be your wish I will aid you to settle your score with him. But you must have a care how you set about it, for as a semi-official Ambassador he will be under the special protection of the Empress."

Knowing Natalia to be an habitual liar, Roger took most of her statements with a grain of salt, but for once he thought she was giving true expression to her feelings. He knew that since he had adopted Russian methods with her he now represented in her eyes the best combined qualities of east and west, which it would have been difficult for her to find in another lover; and he was as certain as any man could be that she was faithful to him. Moreover, any project of revenge was calculated to appeal to the vicious streak in her nature.

"You are an enchantress," he said, after a moment. "And since you could offer me no better proof of your love, I accept it. 'Tis certain that you will see the Count, so I would have you renew your old friendship with him. Mark you, 'tis far from my mind that you should once more become his mistress, and did I catch you out as having pleasured him I would beat you till you are black and blue. But make it appear that you have pleasant memories of your former intercourse, and lead him on to hope that you will give him an assignation."

Her green eyes brightened with amusement. "I take your thought; and when I eventually grant it to him 'twill be you that he will find tucked up in bed, instead of myself. So be it then; I make only one stipulation. I must be there hid behind a curtain to see the fun."

Roger readily agreed and they both laughed heartily at the thought of the Count's discomfiture.

In the ten days that followed Natalia kept him informed both of the progress of this intrigue and the Empress's negotiations with the Finns. It seemed that a deadlock had been reached, as the deputation was divided into two factions. Both were prepared to turn their arms against Gustavus if Catherine would give them her support by prosecuting the war more vigorously; but one group demanded com­plete independence for Finland as tile price of their treachery, while the other, led by Count Yagerhorn, was willing to see their country a Russian province provided only that she would assist them to expel the Swedes. Meanwhile Natalia had found it easy to enmesh Yagerhorn in her toils again, and he was pressing her ardently for a private meet­ing.

On the afternoon of Monday, the 27th of August, while she was visiting Roger at his lodgings, she said to him: "The plum is ripe for the picking when you have a mind to it. No sooner did I show him that I was not averse to his attentions than he naturally assumed that I would be willing to resume our old relations. He has taken my excuses in good part so far, but it will soon become difficult for me to find adequate ones with which to fob him off much longer."

Roger grinned. "I should have realised how swiftly your charms would madden any man who had once known you, and have prepared a plan already. As it is I pray you keep him dangling for a day or two yet, while I work out the details."

"So be it then, Roje" Christorovitch, but delay not too long, for the affair of the Finns will shortly reach a crisis; and once a decision is taken they may hasten back to their own country."

He looked up quickly. "How so? What new development has taken place to precipitate their reaching an agreement?"

" 'Tis the Danes," she said softly. "But I beg you speak of it to no one, for 'tis still a State secret of the highest order. I learned it only because the Empress must have forgotten that she had left me in a closet adjacent to her room last night, while she received Bezborodko. She had set me to read through some papers concerning the hospital she established a few years back to which women of all classes can go in secret for the treatment of certain diseases. I was to report to her upon them, but I heard every word that was said. It seems that when she ceded her deceased husband's patrimony of Holstein to the Danes in exchange for the little duchies of Oldenburg and Delmenhorst, in '73, there was a secret clause in the treaty by which Denmark bound herself to come to Russia's assistance should she be attacked by Sweden."

Roger's mind flashed back to his talks with Mr. Hugh Elliot the previous April in Copenhagen. This was the very thing that shrewd diplomat had suspected; but for something of the sort, Catherine appeared to have made such a poor bargain.

Leaning towards him, Natalia Andreovna went on in a whisper: "Last month the Empress called on the Danes to honour their bond, and they have now agreed to do so. As soon as their preparations are completed they intend to declare war on Sweden."

With a swift glance at the thin, clever face so near to his own, Roger took her up. "And your conclusion is, that now the Empress knows that she can count upon the Danes she can tell these Finnish rebels that she no longer requires their aid; or will accept it only on her own terms of Finland becoming a Russian province?"

Natalia nodded. "You have it. So they will be forced to say yea or nay within the next few days. But Her Majesty and Bezborodko agreed that not even the Finns should be told what lies behind the ultimatum; so that the Danish attack on Sweden may come as a com­plete surprise, and prove the more deadly. I entreat you, therefore, not even to hint it to another soul."

"Be easy; no one in Petersburg shall learn of it from me," he assured her with swift duplicity. His mind was now working fast and furiously. It was just such advance information of coming events that Mr. Pitt had sent him to Russia to get. He must send a despatch that night via Mr. Tooke and the British Embassy, although the chances were against it reaching Whitehall before the Danes had acted, or their intention of doing so was an open secret. But, far more important, King Gustavus must be warned, because he was so intimately concerned in it. These tidings could hardly be less welcome to a man already in such a difficult situation, and Roger did not see what the Swedish King could do to counter this new threat. Still, that was beside the point. Good or ill, the news must be got to him with the least possible delay.

As Roger wondered how he could get a message to Gustavus, he recalled Natalia having told him some days earlier that, in order to win the confidence of the Finnish deputation and show them how strong she was, the Empress had ordered that all its members should be given laisser passer, which would allow them to pass all military posts at will. It then occurred to him that Count Yagerhorn would be carrying such a pass, and that if he could entrap the Count he could not only give him a good beating, but also take it off him, thus killing two birds with one stone. Armed with the pass he should find no difficulty in getting through the Russian lines, and once in Swedish-held territory, he could himself carry the vital news to Gustavus.

"You are right about Yagerhorn," he murmured. "If we delay further he. may slip through our fingers. Think you that to-morrow evening you could get leave of absence?"

Natalia smiled. "I am in personal attendance only every fourth night, so that should not be difficult."

"Then I suggest that you do so, and give the Count his assignation. Tell him that a discreet friend has lent you a lodging off the Nevski, and that you intend to pass the night there under the name of—let us say—Madame Zabof. The apartment, of course, will be my own. You can come there at any hour you wish and I will warn the landlord that a stranger will inquire for you, and that he is to say nothing of my presence but show the fellow up."