Rivals for Love (9 page)

“How extraordinary!”

“But however he may have looked, he worshipped his Mistress. Sometimes he would literally kneel before her framing her face in his hands, stroking her hair and telling her how much he loved her.”

“And she was happy at these attentions?”

“He wrote her poems, entertained her and made her laugh.”

“She must have enjoyed that.”

“The Empress Catherine was continually amazed by him. She had understood the other men in her life, but Potemkin was simultaneously so fascinating, exasperating and an endlessly challenging riddle.”

“But were they happy, Aunt Violet?”

“After the first ecstasy of their love they began to have many disagreements and when there were serious arguments Potemkin would punish her – which was to her the severest way – by ignoring her.”

“I can quite understand it must have been terrible for her,” murmured Elva.

“He would have died for her as his Empress but, when she behaved towards him in an inappropriate way as a woman, he was quite capable of locking the door to his apartment and keeping it locked. On one occasion when she wrote to him begging his forgiveness, his reply was a blank sheet of paper!”

“He sounds very difficult and I cannot think why she loved him so much.”

“She has continued to love him, although he has been away from her for a year at a time.”

“A year at a time!” exclaimed Elva. “How could she allow that to happen?”

There was silence and then Lady Violet said,

“I think you listened in to what I was telling Varin and there is no need for me to repeat the rest of the story.”

“It seems an extraordinary way of being in love!”

“I agree with you, my dear, but the Russians are extraordinary people. If they were not, you would not be going to St. Petersburg.”

Elva chuckled.

“For that I am very grateful and however strangely Prince Potemkin behaves, I do hope I will find the chance to meet him.”

“He is now middle-aged, but he is still of gigantic height and of ungainly proportions. Yet he has a strong will and the determination to have his own way which has made him rule the Empress and through her a great deal of Russia.”

Elva gave a little shiver.

“It all sounds very thrilling to me, but rather frightening. I do hope I never fall in love with someone like that.”

“And I hope so too, my dearest, for your sake.”

She could not still help thinking that it was a mistake for Elva, who was such an unusually sensitive soul, to go to Russia on such a precarious mission.

‘Why did we ever get involved in all this tangle?' she asked herself.

However, she did not say anything to Elva about her misgivings.

“I think we must have remembered everything,” muttered Elva.

She was now standing looking down at her trunk and several cases. They contained all the clothes she was proposing to take with her to Russia.

There were some dresses that had been bought for her as a
debutante
and the more sophisticated gowns Aunt Violet had chosen for her.

Elva was quite delighted with her new trousseau, although her aunt kept on complaining that she was really too young to wear most of the dresses.

“It would be so much easier,” suggested Elva, “if Dukes and Duchesses were to wear a special emblem in their buttonholes so that everyone would know who they were without their having to fuss about their clothes.”

Lady Violet smiled.

“That's a good idea, my dearest. At the same time if you were of no importance, you would be ashamed of not owning an emblem or perhaps one that just showed a blank!”

“It would indeed be an easy way for the Duke to disguise himself if he wanted to.”

“I think he has been in disguise quite a number of times already,” murmured Lady Violet.

Elva looked at her excitedly.

“Undertaking secret missions? Oh, I do hope he will tell me about them.”

Lady Violet looked embarrassed.

“This is something I should never have said. You must forget all about it.”

“If it is a secret, I will not talk about it to anyone else, I promise. But I would like Cousin Varin to tell me all about his adventures.”

“I very much doubt if he will do so,” replied Lady Violet. “You will just have to be very tactful with him, Elva, otherwise he will think that you are a silly chattering
debutante
for whom he has no use.”

“Well, I don't think he really has much use for me anyway except that on this occasion he
needs
me.”

“Well, just try to keep quiet and don't bother him with questions or conversation that he may think boring. If you find the trip difficult, it will be your own fault.”

“I realise that, but I think the most fortunate thing I ever did was to eavesdrop in your library.”

“If you can still say the same when you come back from St. Petersburg, I shall be very happy, my dear Elva,” added Lady Violet.

Then she gave a sudden cry.

“I nearly forgot. How stupid of me”

“Forgot what?”

“Something for you to take with you when you are invited to parties and something special for the Empress as well if you meet her.”

She saw that Elva looked surprised.

“It is correct in the East, and that includes Russia, to bring a present for your hostess when you arrive at a party.”

“What a truly lovely idea, Aunt Violet. I would be so delighted if I gave a party and everyone brought me a present.”

“It is a custom which is never forgotten in the East. I did remember last night and have placed some suitable presents on a table in my bedroom. Let's go and look at them and then they must be packed.”

She walked ahead and Elva followed her into her bedroom.

It was a most attractive and romantic room and Elva thought if ever she married she would have one just like it.

On one side of the room there was a small table and Lady Violet walked over to it.

“The presents you may give to your hostess are not expected to be valuable,” she said, “but charming and an expression of your goodwill. Of course the Empress is different, but I think this will be suitable for her.”

She picked up a cleverly carved antique box. Inset in the centre of the top was a collection of small but very pretty shells.

“This was made many years ago by an amateur craftsman and the shells are found only on one particular beach in Scotland.”

“It's very pretty!” exclaimed Elva. “I do hope that the Empress will like it.”

“Now look at the other presents, Elva.”

There were beautiful enamel boxes, a tortoiseshell comb in a small case, a blue pencil in an elaborate silver holder as well as several small pieces of china, all of which Elva thought were delightful.

“I will have them packed up at once and if they are all in a case of their own, you will be able to find them quickly whenever you need them.”

“Thank you so very much,” enthused Elva. “It is so kind of you, Aunt Violet. You have found so many lovely pieces for me.”

She looked round the room as she spoke.

There was a table with a glass top in front of the window and in it lay a collection of ornamental boxes. Some of them, Elva realised were snuffboxes, which were still in fashion.

She was glad, however, that neither her father nor the Duke took snuff.

Then nestling amongst the boxes she noticed a small pistol set with amethysts.

“That is just the prettiest pistol I have ever seen!”

“Strangely enough it is Russian,” Lady Violet told her. “Edward gave it to me when we visited Moscow. The man who sold it to him told him that it had been made for one of the Czars, I forget which one.”

She raised the glass top of the table and Elva bent forward and picked up the pistol.

“It is so light,” she remarked, “and I can see it is beautifully made.”

“The little enamel box beside it holds the bullets. I think the Empress, if she ever owned it, would have kept it by her bedside so she could protect herself.”

Elva was looking at the pistol intently.

“Please, Aunt Violet, let me take this pistol with me to Russia.”

Lady Violet looked surprised.

“I cannot believe that you will want to use it, my dear.”

“One never knows,” replied Elva. “I would feel so much safer if I took a pistol with me and the duelling pistol I have been using at home is so big I would have to hide it.”

“Can you really shoot, Elva?”

“I asked Papa to allow me to be trained to shoot, but he refused because I was not a boy. So whenever he was away I practised with his guns and with a duelling pistol, which you know are kept in the games room at home.”

“And how good are you with a pistol?” enquired Lady Violet.

“I can hit the bull's eye three times out of four,” Elva told her proudly. “And I am very angry with myself if I miss.”

Lady Violet hesitated for a moment.

“If you promise to be very careful and not shoot anyone by mistake, I will allow you to borrow my little pistol if it will make you feel safer. Which you will be anyway with Cousin Varin.”

“He might not always be around, and thank you, thank you, Aunt Violet, for being so kind. I will be very careful with your pistol.”

“And very careful
who
you shoot with it!”

“I promise that too.”

She picked up the pistol and the little box with the bullets. She thought it was very kind of her dear aunt to lend it to her.

She kissed Lady Violet on the cheek.

“Thank you, thank you, again! Now if Cousin Varin goes gallivanting off after some lovely lady, I shall feel safe even if I am left alone in a big Palace with no one near me.”

“I hope he will do nothing of the sort,” said Lady Violet sharply. “And you must further promise me that you will not do anything dangerous yourself. Remember Russia is not like other countries. Edward would never let me be alone wherever we stayed in that country.”

Then she gave an exclamation.

“Oh, I forgot you will have a chaperone with you! I only hope she remembers her duties.”

Elva knew that this was dangerous ground.

“I am sure she will,” she said briefly. “And thank you again, my dear Aunt Violet. I will now go and pack this beautiful pistol in my luggage.”

She hurried back to her room, thinking that she too kept forgetting there was a mythical chaperone they were supposed to be picking up at Tilbury.

Elva only hoped the Duke would not forget about her as well!

Because she was leaving so early the next morning she retired to bed early, but found it difficult to go to sleep because she was so excited.

She had dreamt so often that she was setting out on a voyage of discovery – only to awaken and find she was still in her familiar bed in a room she had slept in ever since she was a child.

She had never even thought of going to Russia, but to far more distant places.

Now she was actually setting off on a voyage in the strangest and most unpredictable way.

She was travelling with her cousin of whom she was rather frightened.

‘He is so clever, so distinguished and so positive about whatever he likes and dislikes,' she thought. ‘I am bound to upset him sooner or later.'

Then she told herself calmly that one thing he could not do, however tiresome she might be, was to get rid of her.

‘At least I am useful until we leave St. Petersburg,' she murmured.

She wanted to dance with joy because it was all so exciting.

*

She was called at half past five the next morning and rose immediately. She had suggested that Aunt Violet should not to bother to come and say goodbye to her.

However, at half past six when a servant said the Duke was downstairs, Lady Violet came to her room.

“Say goodbye to Cousin Varin for me, my dearest. I did not want to wake Edward by rising so early. He is going to have a hard day at the Foreign Office preparing his brief before we leave for Madrid.”

“You will have gone before I return, Aunt Violet, and I shall not be able to tell you all that has happened to me.”

“You must write when you can, my dear, and as soon as we are settled in I will certainly ask Edward if you can come and stay with us. Spain will be another country for you to visit.”

Elva gave a cry of delight.

“That will be just marvellous. You have been so kind to me and you know I love being with you and Uncle Edward.”

She kissed her aunt affectionately.

Then looking, as her aunt observed, very attractive in her new sophisticated clothes, she ran down the stairs.

Her luggage had already been piled on the back of the carriage in which the Duke had arrived. It was drawn by two outstanding horses that Elva would have liked to inspect and pat.

As soon as he realised that she was alone, the Duke hurried her into the carriage. A few smaller pieces of their luggage were placed on the seat in front of them. As they drove off Elva said,

“Aunt Violet asked me to say goodbye to you for her and I know she will be praying all the time we are away that the visit will be a success.”

“It really has to be after all the trouble we have taken,” replied the Duke. “I feel I should tell you that you look very smart and much older than you did yesterday.”

“I feel at least a hundred! And thank you for liking my clothes. They were especially chosen to make me not only look older but a very respectable Duchess!”

“And that is just what I hope you will be, Cousin Elva.”

He was silent for a moment before adding,

“I suppose you know that when you are acting a part, the most important aspect of your performance is to think yourself into the character you are pretending to be.”

He waited for Elva to speak before continuing,

“Thinking is important in Russia because some of the natives are not only extremely perceptive, but also actually clairvoyant.”