Rivals for Love (12 page)

There were gold carvings on the headboard and at its feet. A huge gold canopy made it look like a Pope's throne.

The furniture was all French and seemed to fill the room with grace as well as beauty and the large windows overlooked a pretty little garden at the back of the Palace.

Elva's luggage had already arrived and two maids were busy unpacking it. They rose to their feet when the Duke and Elva appeared and made low curtsies.

“I think,” suggested Mr. Barnier tentatively, “that Your Grace's dressing room is next door and you will find your manservant waiting there.”

The Duke walked through the communicating door and Elva heard him speaking to Danton.

Next Mr. Barnier departed, having informed the Duke that the Empress was expecting to receive them in half an hour's time.

This just gave Elva time to change her dress into something more elaborate. She took off her hat so that she could arrange her hair.

She was only just ready when the Duke knocked on the door.

She was amused to see he was wearing two of his decorations and she hoped they would impress the Empress.

An
aide-de-camp
called to collect them, wearing a bright crimson uniform bespattered with gold and a large collection of medals.

He led them again through a succession of rooms filled with riches and treasures that were, Elva thought, very like those described in the Arabian Nights.

She was longing to stop and admire the jars, vases, tables and consoles of porphyry, jasper and malachite.

The porcelain in every room was outstanding and the gilding and bright colours of the enormous vases was lovelier even than that of French Sèvres.

Finally they approached the Empress's own rooms and standing outside there were gathered at least twenty armed guards all very smartly dressed.

Although Elva pretended not to notice it, she could not help being aware that the men were all young, tall, dark and handsome.

The
aide-de-camp
ushered them into an immense reception room.

Even as he did so, the Empress entered through a side door followed by two Ladies-in-Waiting.

She looked even larger and more imposing than Elva had expected her to be.

However, she looked old and her hair had become white. Yet she held an undoubtable presence, which made her, from the moment she appeared, dominate the room and everyone in it.

The Duke gave a Royal bow and kissed her hand.

Elva swept to the ground in a very low curtsy.

“It is delightful to meet Your Grace,” the Empress began speaking in French, “and I am hoping that you will enjoy your visit to St. Petersburg.”

The Duke paid her a fulsome compliment and then he recounted a message of congratulations and goodwill from King George.

“I hope His Majesty is in better health than he has been recently,” added the Empress, now showing rather pointedly that she was
au fait
with the Royal family in England.

Elva then presented her with the gift that Lady Violet had provided and the Empress was delighted.

“It will go with my collection,” she said, “which I particularly treasure because they are all presents.”

Then before anyone could say anything more, she informed them imperiously that there was to be a party that evening to which she would take them.

None other than Prince Potemkin was arranging it.

“He is giving it for me,” she informed the Duke, “because he is worried that I have been so very perturbed by the French Revolution. We have already enjoyed much of his marvellous hospitality.”

The Ladies-in-Waiting murmured their approval.

“Tonight is a very special occasion,” continued the Empress, “and the Prince assures me there will be a very delicious dinner followed by a ball.”

“It all sounds so enthralling, Your Majesty,” said Elva. “It is very kind of you to invite us.”

“We will be leaving here early,” the Empress told her, “because first we are to see a ballet in the Prince's private theatre.”

She turned to the Duke.

“A carriage will be waiting to convey you to the Tauride Palace at six thirty.”

Next the Duke thanked her and as Elva curtsied, the Empress left the room.

It all happened so quickly and the Empress was so awe-inspiring that Elva felt just as if she had encountered a typhoon and had almost been swept away by its ferocity.

They walked back to their apartments and the
aide-de-camp
informed them that they would be collected and taken to their carriage at six thirty precisely.

When they were alone, Elva turned to the Duke.

“I don't know about you, but I feel breathless.”

“I agree it is somewhat overwhelming, but at least we will both witness the glory and pomp of St. Petersburg, which will be something amazing to remember.”

“It certainly will be,” agreed Elva. “Did I hear the
aide-de-camp
say that as many as three thousand guests have been asked to the party?”

“You did,” confirmed the Duke, “and while you were looking at one of the pictures, he told me that Prince Potemkin's Palace is to be lit by twenty thousand candles and the gardens by no less than one hundred and twenty thousand lanterns, for which a special consignment of wax has been rushed here from Moscow.”

Elva gave a little laugh.

“I just don't believe it. I think I am dreaming.”

“When Russians give a party,” the Duke told her, “they make it an extravaganza which is memorable and so outrageously expensive that it would be just impossible for anyone else to compete.”

“I just cannot believe anyone would do anything so stupid as to try!”

The Duke walked to his own room where Danton was waiting for him.

As soon as he left her, the maids rushed in to help Elva dress. She chose the most elaborate of her gowns.

While she was still having her hair arranged, the Duke, after knocking, came into the room.

He was carrying the jewellery case which had been in Danton's care ever since they had left England.

It consisted of a very large diamond tiara for Elva to wear on her head with a necklace of superlative stones together with earrings and bracelets.

It was a full ensemble, Elva realised, something a
debutante
would never be allowed to wear.

She thought that no one when they observed the tiara, glowing like a crown on her head, would question that she was anything but a married woman and a
Duchess
at that.

“I only hope we are not held up by highwaymen or bandits on the way to the Palace.”

“If there are any such people around they will not bother themselves with us,” the Duke assured her. “Wait until you see what the Russian aristocrats are wearing and I am quite certain that the Empress will eclipse them all.”

“I am prepared to believe anything, Cousin Varin. I am only too worried that I might just miss seeing something marvellous because I am looking in the other direction!”

She rose from the stool she had been sitting on in front of the dressing table.

She stood in front of the Duke and spread out her arms.

“Do I look all right?”

She thought that he might reply by teasing her, but instead he replied quite seriously,

“You look very beautiful and all the Englishmen present this evening will be proud of you.”

“That is the nicest thing you have ever said to me,” sighed Elva. “But I do have a feeling that our countrymen will only consist of those from the British Embassy.”

“I expect you are right,” responded the Duke.

The
aide-de-camp
knocked on the door exactly on time.

The Duke was just pinning yet another glittering medal onto his evening coat and when Elva looked at him she thought that no gentleman could be smarter or more handsome. He was wearing the Order of the Garter and the medals round his neck shone against his white shirt.

She had, however, not anticipated what their host would wear for the evening.

When they arrived punctually at the Tauride Palace, Prince Potemkin was already receiving his guests.

Elva had expected him to look unusual.

He was wearing deep red silk trousers with a sartorial tailcoat, the gold buttons of which were each set with a large diamond and he sported a black lace cloak.

He greeted the Duke enthusiastically and professed how delighted he was that he and his Duchess could attend his party.

“We are so very gratified to be the guests of Your Highness,” intoned the Duke.

“If you had arrived tomorrow instead of today,” professed the Prince. “I am certain it would have been something you would have regretted for the rest of your life.”

He then introduced the Duke to some of his guests all of whom, Elva noticed, boasted important titles.

One of them was Prince Ivor Kervenski.

He immediately started to pay extremely fulsome compliments to Elva. He was escorting a most attractive lady who they learnt was his sister, the Princess Natasha.

They were all talking animatedly in French, when Prince Potemkin was told that the Empress had arrived.

He hurried away and a minute later the Empress entered the hall.

She was dazzling.

Elva thought that she must be covered in diamonds from her huge tiara, which was almost a crown, to her feet.

The moment Her Majesty appeared a choir in the gallery accompanied by an orchestra of three hundred sang a specially composed anthem in her honour.

The Prince led the Empress to a seat which looked exactly like a throne.

Twenty-four couples, half of them dressed in rose-red and half in blue, danced a carefully rehearsed quadrille that Elva thought they performed very gracefully. When they finished everyone applauded enthusiastically.

Next the Empress was escorted to a small private theatre.

An equerry had obviously been instructed to look after the Duke and Elva and they followed closely behind their host and the Empress to be placed in the best seats.

Two ballets were performed.

Then a huge clockwork driven elephant studded with emeralds and rubies was brought onto the stage.

The elephant's Persian Sadhu beat a brass drum to announce that dinner was served.

To Elva's surprise the Duke had been placed on the Empress's right and she was seated next to him with Prince Ivor Kervenski on her other side.

The guests all ate off gold plates and drank from Persian goblets and Elva was intrigued by the food.

It was not only delicious, but Prince Ivor pointed out to her, that each dish had been imported from a different country on Prince Potemkin's express orders.

“The oysters,” he told Elva, “are from Riga, the veal from Archangel, the mutton from Astrakhan, the beef comes from the Ukraine, the pheasants from Hungary and the grapes from the Crimea.”

“I do not believe it!” exclaimed Elva. “How could His Highness have arranged so much from so far?”

“Our host has been determined,” he then replied, “to make this a party never to be forgotten and I have just been reckoning that it has cost him at least one million roubles!”

Elva gave a cry of horror as he continued,

“No money could be too much if it is spent as an expression of love.”

“I should be very upset if so much was spent on me in one such evening!” asserted Elva.

“I would spend double, if I thought it would make
you
happy.”

Elva shook her head.

“I should be very worried,” she replied, “about the children who are starving in other parts of the world and whose lives could be saved by the cost of just one course from this very exotic dinner.”

“Then what could I do to make you happy?” asked Prince Ivor.

Elva realised he was trying to flirt with her and she responded,

“You are so very kind, but I am extremely happy, because I am married to a very wonderful man.”

Prince Ivor shrugged his shoulders.

“If you are just married,” he mused, “then the sky is blue and the sun is still shining. But when life is not so bright, then you must look for love and be grateful for it.”

Elva thought he was becoming very tiresome.

“What I would wish to do,” she emphasised, “is to remember this evening and tell my friends when I return to England what magnificent hosts the Russians can be.”

“They can be a great number of other things too,” persisted Prince Ivor, “and I would like to teach you not about Russia but about Russian men.”

“I can see that they are all very smart and very handsome.”

She was looking behind the Empress's chair where her personal guards were standing. One of them wore more medals than the others and he was continually bending over by the Empress's chair to whisper something in her ear.

Elva thought it seemed rather strange.

Suddenly it struck her that he must be the Russian she had heard so much about – Platon Zubov. She could see that he was a tall robust young man. Young enough, since the Empress was now sixty-one, she reckoned, to be her grandson.

When dinner was finished Prince Potemkin led the Empress into the magnificent pillared ballroom, which he had named appropriately, Catherine Hall.

Before Elva could realise what was happening she found herself dancing with Prince Ivor.

He was a good dancer and as they waltzed around the room with its amazing white columns she thought it was all a dream.

She was, however, aware that the Prince was being overfamiliar as he was holding her far closer than was necessary or proper.

“You enchant me,” he muttered in a deep voice. “I am holding onto you tightly in case you disappear before I can prevent you from leaving me.”

Elva tried to laugh lightly, but he spoke in such a passionate manner.

Although she was just longing to be free of him, the dance seemed to go on for ever.

“Do you believe in love at first sight?” the Prince asked as they moved under the huge crystal chandeliers.