Gone by Nightfall

by Dee Garretson

  I didn’t understand. “Why would anyone want to arrest him? He’s an old man who sits in his library and writes.” Why was the baron still tormenting us?

  “It’s not just him. It’s all the known supporters of the czar. The general must go take an oath in front of the Duma to show he believes the czar’s time is finished. The czar is under house arrest with his family until it is determined what is to be done with him, but there is fear that some may try to free him in an attempt to reinstall him as ruler. The provisional government must know who is loyal to the new order. They’ve already arrested several members of the nobility who are not loyal.”

  This was a new nightmare. I had thought Russia was done with the horror of political prisoners. I had thought the point of the revolution was to move forward.

  I knew my stepfather. “You’re not going to be able to convince him to speak against the man even if he needs to do it to save himself.”

  The baron sighed. “He has to speak the oath. He doesn’t have to mean it.”

  “You want him to lie?” I couldn’t imagine Papa doing that, either. His code of honor was very strong.

  “He has to lie if he wants to survive. Please help me with this. I am not your stepfather’s enemy, Miss Mason. I would do anything for him. I owe a debt to him for something he helped me with in the past. I always pay my debts, and this may be the last chance I get.”

  The last chance I get. The words were chilling and I finally understood that the baron was deadly serious.

  “All right. Maybe you can convince him.” I took him upstairs to Papa’s bedroom and left the two men alone.

  A little while later the baron came back down. “I have to go now, but I’ll be back at one o’clock to show him where to go.”

  After the baron left, Zarja told me my stepfather didn’t want to see anyone. I explained to the boys what was happening, and a few minutes before one o’clock I was waiting in the hall as he came downstairs, taking each step very slowly and holding on to the railing with one hand. I hadn’t seen him in his full military uniform in a long time. It was too tight on him, the buttons straining to keep the coat together. He wore his dress sword and spurs on his boots, which jangled a little with each step. The Cross of St. George glinted on his chest.

  “Should you wear that?” I asked. “You’ll call attention to yourself.” Dmitri had said it was too dangerous for soldiers to wear uniforms, though I realized that taking off the medal wouldn’t make him less conspicuous.

  “I will wear it,” he said. “I was awarded it for service to my country, so I shall wear it. I am still serving my country. I will always serve my country. Whatever this new government asks, I will do.”

  There was nothing I could say to that.

  He noticed I had on my coat. “You don’t need to go with me, Lottie.”

  “I know, but I want to.”

  “I’m going too.” Hap bounded down the stairs as the bell rang and Osip opened the door to admit the baron.

  We followed the baron and Papa outside to find a group of elderly men in uniform standing on the sidewalk. There were eight in total. I recognized a few, but Papa appeared to know all of them. He went around and spoke to each one. One didn’t seem to understand what was happening. A woman who might have been his daughter held him by the arm.

  The baron gave them all red armbands. “After you swear the oath, you will have to register, and you will receive an identity card, which you must carry with you at all times. Are you ready?”

  He didn’t wait for them to reply as he led them down the street. It was slow going. Some of them couldn’t walk well at all. Hap offered his arm to one man, who took it gratefully.

  I had been afraid the crowds we passed would jeer, but instead they fell silent and moved aside to let the men through.

  “Bless you, little grandfathers,” one woman said, and her words ran through the crowd, people saying it all along the way.

  We passed a group of men working to pry the imperial-eagle seal off the top of the gate to one of the government buildings. When it came free the crowd cheered and surrounded the man who held it as he carried it to the river and threw it in. Papa shuddered at the sight, but he continued on.

  When we reached the Tauride Palace, the baron stopped us. “Only the soldiers should come inside,” he said. “The rest of you need to wait out here.” He went over to the man who was being helped by the woman. “I’ll make sure he comes back out to you,” he said to the woman.

  We didn’t have to wait long for them to return, but when they did, every man’s face was so gray, it was as if we were seeing dead men walking toward us. No one spoke as we walked home, and when we got there, Papa let Osip help him take off his coat, and then he went into the library without a word and shut the door.

  “What should we do?” Hap asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “Let’s let him sit for a bit and then maybe Zarja can coax him to drink some tea.”

  “I’m going to go tell Miles what happened.” Hap walked up the stairs slowly, not bounding up as he usually did.

  “I’m sorry,” Osip said. “The general shouldn’t be punished for the czar’s crimes.”

  The front door opened, and a woman walked inside, right past us, until she stood in the middle of the hall. She was dressed in an old-fashioned coat, so long it dragged on the ground.

  I was so startled I stood frozen in place.

  “Miss! Miss! May I help you?” Osip said, a bewildered look on his face.

  The woman was very thin with a lined face and graying hair. Something about her looked familiar, but I couldn’t place her. She didn’t seem confused, like she didn’t know where she was, but I couldn’t think of any other reason a person would walk into a stranger’s house.

  Even though I stood no more than fifteen feet away from her, she didn’t acknowledge my presence. Her gaze traveled all around the hall as if she was committing it to memory.

  Zarja came into the hall. She must not have seen the woman at first because she spoke to me. “You’re back. How is the general?”

  “Hello, Zarja,” the woman said. “Don’t you recognize me?” She gave a harsh laugh. “I’ve aged a bit, haven’t I? Ten years in prison with a little torture thrown in will do that to a person.” I recognized her then. Papa’s daughter.

  Shock ran through me. I hadn’t thought about what the release of prisoners would mean, especially for those who had been sent all the way to Siberia. They’d of course come back to their homes instead of staying in Siberia. I hadn’t thought what it would mean to have Papa’s daughter come home.

  “Maria—Maria Feodorovna!” Zarja sputtered. “We didn’t know. We didn’t expect you.”

  “No, I’m sure you didn’t.” The woman took off her coat and handed it to Osip. “I decided to surprise you. Is the general home? I’m sure he’ll be delighted to see me.”

  Delighted to see me. Those words brought me back to myself. Would he be delighted? After what she had done? “He’s not feeling very well,” I said. “Perhaps you can come back later.” I wanted to tell him she was here before he saw her. He’d had enough shocks in the past few weeks.

  “No, I’ll stay. I’ll see him in a little while, but I do want tea first. I assume my mother’s sitting room is still a sitting room?” she said to Zarja. “You can bring me something to eat, too.”

  As if noticing me for the first time, she added, “And you, whoever you are, join me. You’re a little too young to be a new wife for the general, so I’m consumed with curiosity about you. Come into the sitting room with me. I want to talk to you.”

  I followed her in, still befuddled by the shock at her reappearance.

  She made herself some tea and sat down, motioning for me to sit too. “Have you ever heard of me? Does my father speak of me?”

  I could feel my face getting warm. I didn’t want to lie, but there seemed no good way to soften the truth. “He might have spoken of you to my mother, but he didn’t bring you up wi
th me or any of the other children.”

  “‘Other children’?” Some of the tea sloshed out of her glass onto her skirt. She ignored the spill.

  I explained as best I could. She kept her eyes fixed on me. They were an intense blue, vivid against the paleness of her face. She didn’t seem to blink, and I had to keep looking away so I wouldn’t stumble over my words. There was something about her that didn’t feel quite right. I stopped talking after I told her about the twins and my mother’s death.

  She drank more tea as we sat there in silence for several minutes. I had so many questions to ask her, but I didn’t know how to phrase them. I was still trying to envision this woman as a little girl running through the house. I tried to imagine myself in her position, coming back home after all the years away to find strangers here.

  When she spoke again, her voice was high, and I could hear anger in it. “So two wives since I’ve been gone. And both dead now with me still alive. I’m sure my father would prefer it to be the other way around. A brother and sisters. How odd.” She gave another laugh, just as harsh as when she’d spoken to Zarja. “I longed for brothers and sisters when I was a little girl. I was very, very lonely, but of course that little girl died a long time ago.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said.

  She held up her hand. “Don’t think I’m looking for sympathy. I’m just talking to myself. One resorts to that in solitary confinement.” She sighed. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised my father never speaks of me. I didn’t ever receive a letter from him. I thought others might have spoken of me. I was in all the newspapers at the time.”

  I shook my head. “No, I haven’t heard of you, though I’m sure others have,” I said. I thought it was strange she wanted people to remember her for her crime.

  Another sigh. “I’m sure it’s not just you. A whole new generation of young people won’t know my deeds. How fast we are forgotten. Would you believe my picture was once on the cover of every newspaper in Russia?”

  She didn’t seem to expect an answer to that as she set down her glass, took a cigarette out of a bag, and lit it. She inhaled, closing her eyes as a blissful expression appeared on her face.

  “Do you know what I did?” she asked.

  “I think I heard…”

  “I killed a man.” She paused and stared at me with those unblinking eyes again, like she was waiting for a reaction. I was getting nervous that the woman was more than a little unhinged. We didn’t need her in the house, but I couldn’t think of a way to get her out of it.

  When I didn’t speak, she kept talking. “I shot him five times right in front of his Cossack bodyguards. They were so surprised a woman would do such a thing, they just stood there and let me shoot him. I was so nervous, my aim wasn’t very good. It took him five days to die.” She shrugged. “I think the loathsome ones are hard to kill. Their blood is already so full of poison; they aren’t like other people.”

  The woman was definitely unhinged. I tried to think of what Dr. Rushailo would do if faced with such a person, but nothing came to me. The whole conversation was so bizarre it was almost like I was in a dream. I didn’t want her to meet Stepan and the twins.

  She stood up. “Now I want to see my father.”

  I had to stop her. “He’s had a long day. Are you sure you couldn’t come back?”

  She gave that same harsh laugh. “He’s had a difficult day? I’ve had a difficult life.”

  She got up and walked out of the sitting room. I followed her, asking her to stop, to wait, anything I could think of, but she didn’t listen. She went into the library, shutting the door behind her. I heard her say, “Still working on the memoir, I see,” and then I heard the door lock.

  “Did you tell him?” I asked Osip.

  “No, who is that woman? Zarja is storming around cursing. What is going on?”

  I explained as we hovered in the hall, counting the minutes she was in there. I didn’t have to wait long until she came back out and walked over to me.

  “Good, you’re still here. My father tells me you somehow manage things in this house. My people are taking it over, but I’ve consented to let him and his hangers-on stay in the attic. Move any personal items you want to keep by the end of the day tomorrow. We’ll move in the day after.” She laughed. “Close your mouth. You’re gaping at me.”

  “You’re taking over the house?” She’d gone too far.

  “That’s what I said.”

  I shook my head. I was really beginning to dislike this woman. “You can’t be serious. You can’t just show up here and take over the house. Papa would never agree to that. It’s his house.”

  “Papa? Oh, what a sweet name. You have wormed your way into his heart.” Her voice was full of hatred. “But he has agreed. He knows he’s lucky I’m letting you have the attic after I told him the alternative. I could turn you all out on the streets. That’s where most of the worthless nobility are going to end up—there or in prison. They are being arrested by the scores.”

  She was trying to scare me. “No, not my stepfather. He took an oath of loyalty.”

  “To whom? The Duma? They’re on their way out too. It’s time for the aristocrats to pay for spending their whole lives exploiting the people. My people will see to it.”

  She wasn’t making sense. “I don’t understand. Who are your people?” Did she mean other released prisoners?

  “My comrades. My party, the Socialist Revolutionaries. The people who are going to be in charge now.”

  My head was spinning. She couldn’t just move people into the house. There had to be a way to stop her.

  The woman turned to Osip. “We don’t need a footman, of course. So ridiculous! Go find yourself a job that is of use to modern Russia.” She looked all around the room. “Though not until after we arrive. We’ll need you to do some rearranging.”

  She swept out the door, leaving it open. Snow swirled inside. As Osip moved to close it, I heard a choking sound from the study. I ran in, hearing Osip following close behind me. Papa sat behind his desk, his face red and his hand pulling at his collar.

  “Help me get him down on the floor.”

  I loosened his collar, relieved to see his breathing ease a little.

  “Go get Hap and tell him we need a doctor,” I said.

  We got him up to bed and the doctor came to examine him, though by the time the man arrived, Papa seemed better. Once again the doctor said that Papa had overdone it and he needed to rest. I knew it was more than that.

  When Dmitri came home, I pulled him into the sitting room to tell him what had happened.

  “Is there a way to stop this woman from taking over the house? Is there anyone in charge I can go to? It will kill Papa to have her and all those people here.”

  “There’s no way to stop it,” he said. “It’s happening all over the city.”

  I threw up my hands, anger rushing though me. “He’s an old man and he worked hard for years and years. It isn’t fair.” I wanted to scream.

  “I know. But they won’t be stopped, and some of them could get violent.”

  The image of Vladislav clubbing Archer jumped into my mind, and my stomach turned over.

  “I’ve agreed to turn my own house over to my own party,” Dmitri said. “I just met with one of the leaders this morning.”

  “You’re letting them have your house?” I couldn’t believe it. He’d said he’d take me back there.

  “I heard some horror stories this morning. It was better them than a bunch of strangers storming in and taking it over. At least they are going to pay Tatiana and hire someone else to help cook for all of them. It’s not ideal, but I couldn’t think of a better solution. I wish I’d known about the general’s daughter. I would have made my group set aside some rooms for you. I can’t even give you my room. I told them I didn’t need it.”

  “That’s all right. You thought you had a room here.”

  He went to the window and looked out, then turned back to me. “No, t
hat’s not it. I didn’t want to bring it up before, but perhaps now is the time. I’ll need to leave soon.”

  “Why? Where are you going?” I was confused.

  “I’m not sure, but I need to leave Petrograd.”

  I sank back into a chair, my throat closing up. “Leave?” I whispered. It was too much. I couldn’t bear it.

  He came over and knelt down beside me, taking my hands. “Yes. The provisional government is going to fall. And it’s going to fall soon. There are too many factions fighting for power, and Lenin is too powerful for all of them. The general’s daughter is going to find out very soon that her group may not have any power at all.” He grimaced. “It wasn’t supposed to be this way. There are remnants of the army in the south and in the east. I thought I’d try to get to one of them.”

  “Why? I thought those regiments all wanted to bring the czar back.”

  “Not all of them. That’s Lenin’s propaganda. But we’ll band together with them to get rid of the Bolsheviks. It’s our only hope for Russia and to hold out against the Germans.”

  I couldn’t believe Dmitri wanted to throw himself back into fighting. “What can a few regiments do against the whole German army? You’re just giving your life away!” I wanted to grab hold of his shirt and shake him to put some sense in him. They’d be wiped out immediately.

  “I don’t know what good I can do, but I can’t stay in Petrograd. My leg is almost healed. I can’t hide away here, as much as I’d like to stay with you.” He paused. “But you can’t stay here either. We’ve got to find a way to get you all out of the country, not just to the dacha. I’ve heard things, unsettling things.”

  The day before, my automatic response would have been no, we weren’t leaving. The last few hours had changed my mind. “What sort of things?” I couldn’t imagine how much worse it could get.

  “Some of those in power don’t want foreigners here. They think you’re all part of the old ways, and they want to remake Russia into something completely different. And more and more people are speaking out against the nobility. They want to punish anyone who has held power in the past. I told you I’d let you know when your family was in danger. It’s in danger now.”