The wanton princess rb-8

by Dennis Wheatley

  Advancing unsteadily on Muriavieff, the young man burst into a tirade of abuse against the Czar. From it Roger gathered that on the previous day the Semenourki regiment had been on guard duty at the Palace and when Paul had made his usual two hour-long inspection, examining minutely every man in the regiment, he had noticed that one or the men had a slight stain on his breeches. This had driven him into a furious rage and he had promptly reduced both the man's Company Commander and Platoon Commander to the ranks.

  It was the outraged Company Commander who was now giving vent to his indignation, and he bawled at Muriavieff, 'How long are we to lie down under such vile treatment? The "Little Father" is no longer a father to us but a crazy imbecile. He treats us, scions of the noblest families in Mother Rursia, as though we were no better than serfs. Why do you not speak to your Uncle and urge upon him that it is his duty to remonstrate with the madman? As First Minister Count Pahlen has his ear. Go to him, Muriavieff. You have always said you were my friend. Go to him and urge him to get me back my commission.'

  At the name of Count Pahlen Roger pricked up his ears. Among the letters of introduction that Count Simon Vorontzoff had given him was one for the Minister. Knowing that at every morning levee his anteroom would be crowded with people submitting petitions to him, Roger had been wondering how, without making himself conspicuous, he could present his letter and secure a private audience That Muriavieff should be the great man's nephew offered just the opening he had been seeking.

  Clearly everyone sympathized with the degraded Captain, and joined in abusing the Czar. For half an hour the indigna­tion meeting continued, everyone talking at once. Meanwhile, the Czar's victim was given several helpings of Punch and, being already drunk, at the end of that time fell flat on his face on the floor.

  When he had been carried off to a bedroom and the clamour had subsided, Roger got Muriavieff aside, said that he had an introduction to his uncle and asked if he could arrange for him to meet him more or less in private.

  Muriavieff, swaying slightly but not too drunk to register what was being said to him, replied, 'Nothing easier, my friend. Imperial Highness Alexander giving big reception two nights hence. We're his own regiment, you know. All invited. My uncle sure to be there. Take you with me.'

  9

  The Conspiracy

  Two nights later, concealing his excitement at the promised meeting with Count Pahlen, which he felt might prove the key to his mission, Roger accompanied Muriavieff to the Palace of the Heir Apparent and was presented to him. He found, as he had been told, that the Prince was a delightful young man: handsome, well-made and of a most amiable disposition. For a man of twenty-four he seemed somewhat shy, but he had dignity and gave his wife a charming smile as Roger was about to make his bow to her. She had been Princess Louise of Baden and they had married when he was only sixteen, his grandmother having been anxious to see the succession secured before she died. In that Catherine had been disappointed: for Elizabeth Feodorovna, as Louise had been rechristened on taking the Russian Faith, had had no children. But she was a beautiful girl and the young couple had fallen in love at first sight.

  An hour later Roger, who had been keeping a watchful eye on Muriavieff, saw him detach a tall, broad-shouldered man with a rugged, forceful face from a small group and lead him a few paces towards the embrasure of a window. The Captain then beckoned Roger who moved quickly over to them and the presentation was made.

  Roger at once spoke of his letter from Count Simon and was about to produce it, but the Minister said quickly, ‘I will take it as read, Mr. Brook, and send you a card for some entertainment within a few days: but many affairs call for my attention and my nephew tells me that you wanted a word in private. Now is your lime.'

  'It was to give Your Excellency a sight of this.' Roger replied quickly, as he took from his waistcoat pocket a slip of paper. It had on it only three lines, which read:

  'Mr. Roger Brook is a confidential agent of the British Government. He is proceeding to Russia in the hope of bringing about better relations with the Government of His Imperial Majesty.'

  And it was signed by Lord Grenvillc.

  Having given the Lettre de Marque a swift glance. Count Pahlen handed it back with a dubious smile as he said, ‘I fear you have set yourself a difficult task, Mr. Brook. My Imperial Master feels himself to have been most ill-treated by his late allies and is now firmly set upon entering the war against them.’

  'Of that I am aware,' Roger replied in a low voice. 'But it cannot have escaped Your Excellency that his rule has made him many enemies among his own people. Should God in His wisdom decree a chance of government here. I might be able to carry back to my Lord Grenville a very different answer.'

  Having no official position Roger could not claim dip­lomatic immunity, so it was a most dangerous suggestion to have made. But, after the Czar. Count Pahlen was the most powerful man in Russia, and Roger had decided that this was his one big chance of getting to grips with his mission.

  The minister's smile left his face and, after a moment, he said, 'You are a bold man. Mr. Brook. In this country even to voice such a thought could be accounted a crime.'

  Keeping his deep blue eyes fixed unwaveringly on those of the Count, Roger replied, 'I am confident that Your Excel­lency, too, would run great risks in the interests of your country and for the chance of restoring happiness to a vast number of people. I pray you at least to afford me an opportunity to put before you certain possibilities.'

  'Do you speak German or French?' asked the Count

  'German well enough and French fluently.'

  'Very well, then. German would be better. Be at my residence one hour after midnight and enquire for Alexis in that language. He will bring you to me and I will listen to what you have to say.'

  Roger murmured his thanks, they exchanged bows and the minister moved away.

  For the remainder of the evening Roger continued to cir­culate among the guests, renewing an old acquaintance here and there and, through them, making a number of new ones. Moving slowly about the large, lofty rooms there were several hundred people and at the buffets the supplies of food and drink were ample; but the guests did not appear to be enjoying themselves. There was little laughter and an air of uneasy restraint seemed to afflict the whole company; so Roger found himself comparing the scene with those he had witnessed at the Winter Palace and the Hermitage in the days of the great Catherine.

  The uniforms of her reign had been much more varied and brilliant, and the fetes she and her favourites gave spectacles to marvel at. Lofty apartments were turned into Indian temples and indoor gardens, where tropical fish swam in great glass vases. Thousands of candles in huge crystal chandeliers had lit the scene. After the formal dances, led by the Empress herself, there were wonderful ballets each costing a fortune, parades of Kalmucks, Tartars, Circassians and all the other peoples of her Empire in their colourful tribal costumes. Then jugglers and acrobats performed their feats and Cossacks danced the Trepak to the wild music of gipsy bands. The long tables groaned under their weight of fantastic culinary creations on dishes of gold and silver, and the cham­pagne flowed like water. At midnight the common people were let in by the hundred, given food and wine and presents of money, household articles and clothes. After the Empress retired the party became one vast drunken orgy, but it was not without reason that her people cried, 'Czarina, live for ever.'

  Yet most of the time Roger's thoughts were on his coming interview with Count Pahlen, and he wondered with con­siderable anxiety whether he would emerge from it a free man.

  At one o'clock in the morning he roused the sleepy night porter at the Count's palace, asked in German for Herr Alexis and. after a short wail, a lanky, grey-haired man showed him into the Minister's cabinet. Pahlen had discarded his stiff Court dress and put on a loose chamber robe. Waving Roger to a chair, he said at once:

  'Now, Mr. Brook, let me hear what your Government has to offer that might induce Russia to change her polic
y.'

  'A considerable modification of the measures that now seriously interfere with Russia's commerce on the high seas. Your Excellency,' Roger replied, 'and the return in good shape of the Russian troops now detained in the Channel Islands.'

  'That is not much,' shrugged the Count, 'and would not weigh a straw with my present master.'

  'Ah!' exclaimed Roger boldly. 'Your Excellency has brought us to the crux of the whole matter. You will surely not contest that the Czar Paul is rapidly leading Russia to ruin? Nine-tenths of your trade is already at a standstill. The fascination that General Bonaparte exercises on him may well prove disastrous. As allies, any troops he may send into western Europe must mingle with the French. Whatever change may have taken place in the First Consul's own views, his army is still imbued with the doctrines of the Revolution: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity". You may depend upon it that your troops will be infected by their views and on return to their own country stage revolts which must end in the destruction of your system, under which by far the greater part of the Russian people lives in a state of serfdom.'

  Count Pahlen nodded, 'In that being a danger, I agree with you.'

  'Yet it is not that alone which must be a matter of great concern to you,' Roger hurried on. 'There is the parlous state to which the Russian nobility has been reduced. I learn that within the past few years, not scores but hundreds of them have been sent to exile in Siberia.' He then related the scene he had witnessed two nights before in Captain Muriavieff's apartments and continued, 'Such arbitrary dismissals must immensely weaken your army when it is brought into battle, and by them the whole hierarchy under which Russia has grown great is systematically being destroyed. In this I tell Your Excellency nothing that you do not already know, and must surely feel calls for swift redress.'

  With a grim little smile the Minister asked, 'What remedy for this, Mr. Brook, do you propose?'

  'I'll make no bones about it,' Roger replied firmly. 'You should depose the Emperor and install the Grand Duke Alexander as Czar in his place.'

  'Your proposal has no novelty,' the Count said with a heavy sigh. 'Your last Ambassador, Lord Whitworth, urged such a step upon me before his departure, and numerous other people have done so in secret. But a coup d’etat of this kind is fraught with difficulties and dangers. The Grand Duke Alexander has no reason to love his father. In character the two bear no resemblance. On that account the Czar has always disliked and distrusted his son. The more so as he is aware that, but for the Empress Catherine's last illness having taken her off somewhat suddenly, Alexander would have succeeded in his place. Her Majesty had already had documents drafted to set aside her son and install her grandson on the throne. Alexander was aware of this but, being a youth of high integrity, refused to lend himself to supplanting his father. That is still his attitude. I have already sounded him on the subject several times, but he remains adamant in his resistance to proposals that we should depose his father and make him Czar. And, without his consent, such an act could lead to the death of all concerned in it.'

  'I am much encouraged,' Roger said, 'by Your Excellency having confided in me that you are in favour of deposing his present Majesty, and I appreciate your difficulty. May I hope, though, that you will continue to urge upon the Grand

  Duke the necessity of agreeing to this project for the salvation of his country?'

  'You may, Mr. Brook; for our situation becomes more disturbing every day. But what of yourself? Whereabouts in the city have you a lodging?'

  'In the English Factory, with the Reverend James Peabody, who has most kindly given me hospitality these past few days. But I am loath to burden him with my presence much longer and am seeking other accommodation.'

  Count Pahlen thought for a few moments, then he said, 'As our only link with the Government of England I would like you to remain on in St. Petersburg, pending possible eventualities: but it is important that no suspicion be aroused regarding the reason for your presence here. In view of the present breach between Russia and England your pretence of being only a casual traveller is liable to become suspect before long; and it is most undesirable that the Czar's secret police should become interested in your movements. I think the safest plan would be for you to remove to my country house outside the city, as there you would be free from police surveillance. But I cannot place full reliance on my own staff, and it might arouse undesirable comment if it were known that I had an English guest there.'

  Roger, now more than ever satisfied with the turn the interview had taken, smiled his thanks then suggested, 'As the Germans have always been looked on kindly by His Imperial Majesty, did I pose as one while your guest and my presence there come to his ears, he would think nothing of it. Particularly if you could provide me with some suitable employment.'

  'That is an admirable idea,' the Minister replied. 'As a reason for your presence you could catalogue the German books in my library.'

  So matters were arranged. Next day Roger thanked the Reverend James warmly for his hospitality and left the city to take up his residence in Count Pahlen's country mansion, under the name of Herr Professor Heinrich Below.

  It was by then February 16th, and before the end of the month Roger had several other conversations with the Min­ister, who kept him informed of what was going on. The Czar had despatched an emissary to Paris to end formally the state of war that existed between Russia and France. A glowing response had recently been received from the First Consul and with it a copy of a declaration he had issued. It gave unstinted praise to the Czar for his chivalrous decision to defend the shipping of all nations from the piracy of the English, then stated France's determination to render him all possible aid and not make peace with Britain until she agreed to recognize the 'Freedom of the Seas'.

  Overjoyed by this. Paul had sent an enthusiastic reply of great length. In it he urged the First Consul to exert pressure through Spain on Portugal to force her to join the League, and to use his influence with the United States to the same end. He then proposed a vast, mad plan for conquering India. The French, under Massena, were to cross the Danube, enter Russia then, by way of the Don and Volga, arrive at Astrakhan on the Black Sea. There they would be joined by a Russian army and by way of Herat and Candahar invade India.

  Roger could well imagine how Bonaparte and Talleyrand would laugh over this crazy scheme; but it was certain they would flatter the Czar by pretending to accept it while making capital out of his hatred of England.

  At several of Roger's talks with Count Pahlen, the Vice Chancellor, Count Nitika Panin, was present and, later, a number of other high officials, all of whom concurred that the Czar must, somehow, be deposed. But all were agreed that they dared not act until the consent of the Grand Duke Alexander had been obtained, and he continued obdurate.

  Towards the end of February Roger learned that on the 9th. as a result of Moreau's further successes following Hohenlinden and his advance on Vienna, the Austrians had, at Lun6ville, again signal a separate peace; so Britain was now left on her own to fight France, Sweden and Denmark.

  But early in March the prospect of dethroning the Czar became more hopeful. Prussia had remained dilatory about joining the League, and had done no more than close the mouths of the rivers Ems and Weser to British shipping. Infuriated by Frederick William's lack of co-operation, Paul threatened to send an army of eighty thousand men against Berlin unless the Prussians at once invaded Hanover. For Russia to alienate her potential allies the Prussians, as well as the English, must prove disastrous; so Alexander reluctantly agreed that something must be done, but not for the moment.

  Meanwhile Paul was becoming conscious that his tyranny was making him many enemies, and had begun to fear assas­sination. He had already turned the Mikhailovsky Palace, in which he lived, into a fortress and now he strengthened its defences still further. Suspecting everyone round him of treachery he became ever more gloomy and intractable. Even his devoted wife and his sons came under suspicion, and he told Pahlen that he felt co
nvinced that they were plotting against him. Then, one day, he confided to his Minister that he meant to imprison all three of them and appoint the young Prince Eugene of Wurtemberg as his successor. When Pahlen informed Alexander of his danger the Grand Duke finally consented to his father being deposed, but made the Count swear on oath that, when the Czar was arrested, in no cir­cumstances should he be harmed.

  Now, it seemed to Roger all that remained to be done was to evolve a carefully-thought-out plan for getting into the Palace without opposition and forcing Paul to sign a Deed of Abdication. But neither Pahlen nor Panin shared that view. Both were most averse to taking any active role themselves and agreed that, although innumerable Russians had come to hate Paul, they could think of no-one with sufficient standing who would hare the temerity to face him and tell him he had been deposed. Roger thereupon volunteered to do the job himself, provided he was given adequate armed backing. But to that they objected that he was not fitted to take the lead in such an undertaking because he was known only to a few of the nobles who wished to force the Czar to abdicate; so the majority would refuse to put their trust in him and risk their necks by accompanying him into the Palace.

  At length they decided to use General Bennigsen, a bold and ruthless Hanoverian in the Russian service. But he was commanding the garrison in a distant city, so Roger had to restrain his impatience as best he could while making a pretence for a further week of cataloguing Count Pahlen's library.

  Bennigsen arrived in mid-March and, when informed what was afoot, declared himself willing to play the leading part, provided that others, equally resolute, were ready to give him their support. Pahlen assured him that he would have no difficulty in producing a body of such men shortly before the attempt. But now that it came to deciding on which night it should be made, there occurred yet another delay. Only Alexander's own Semenourki regiment could be relied on not' to oppose the conspirators entering the Palace; so they must wait until its next turn for duly came round.