Frontline Nurses

by Holly Green

  Ralph snatched the newspapers out of her reach. ‘No, you can’t! God knows what people here are going to think. How am I going to explain all this to my superiors when the word gets back to England? Really, Leo …’

  He was interrupted by a knock at the door. A pageboy stood outside.

  ‘A message for Miss Malham Brown, sir.’

  Ralph took it and handed it to Leo. ‘I imagine this is some sort of reaction to the article in the paper. You had better read it.’

  Leo opened the envelope and drew out a card. Then she began to laugh.

  ‘What is it?’ her brother demanded.

  ‘Baroness Levinski requests the pleasure of my company at a reception this evening.’

  Within days, Leo was inundated by a flood of invitations to receptions and balls. Ralph’s instruction to her to order dresses and have the bill sent to him rebounded on him, as he found himself paying for yet another ball gown, or afternoon dress, or riding habit.

  Leo floated through the firmament of Belgrade’s beau monde like a visiting comet, admired and wondered at but unreachable. In spite of Tom’s discretion, rumours spread by the officers who had been with Prince Alexander at Adrianople and had witnessed the denouement of the story began to spread. But this only added a titillating sense of the exotic and made her more sought after than ever. When it became known that there was no formal engagement between her and Tom, she was ardently courted by six or seven eligible men and received their attentions with a cool indifference that only strengthened their passion. She was glad to be out of the hotel and able to meet people and the adulation she received was some balm to her wounded spirit but none of it seemed real. She had the impression that she had left her real self behind outside Adrianople and was unlikely ever to be reunited with it. She was haunted by the thought that one day soon Sasha would return to Belgrade and she dreaded the prospect of another encounter, yet at the same time it filled her dreams.

  One evening at a reception her hostess came towards her, bringing a tall, handsome girl of about seventeen, whose dark hair and eyes proclaimed her relationship before the introductions were made.

  ‘Leonora, this is Adriana Malkovic. She has been longing to meet you.’

  ‘Indeed I have,’ the girl said, impulsively. ‘Ever since I read that you were at the siege of Adrianople. I wonder, did you meet my brother Aleksander?’

  Leo had had time to prepare herself and she answered calmly, ‘Yes, I got to know him quite well.’

  ‘How is he?’ Adriana’s eyes were wistful. ‘It is so long since we saw him.’

  ‘He was well when I left. I have no reason to think that has changed. He is very … resilient.’

  ‘I envy you so much!’ the other girl exclaimed. ‘To be able to go out there, to be near him and to do such wonderful work.’

  ‘I was not the only one,’ Leo said. ‘There are many women there still, nursing the sick and wounded. Perhaps if you were to train as a nurse …’

  Adriana rolled her eyes. ‘Sasha would never hear of it. He believes women should stay at home.’

  ‘I know.’ Leo felt a sudden warmth of fellow feeling for her. ‘Brothers! I have one too.’

  ‘I have met him,’ Adriana responded. ‘But he is charming.’

  Leo looked across the room to where Ralph was being charming to two other young ladies. He turns it on like a tap, she thought. She turned back to Adriana. ‘Whereas your brother is not, because he has no need to charm. He has other, more admirable, qualities that bind people to him.’

  Adriana held her eyes. ‘I see you do know him quite well.’

  After that, Leo was not surprised to receive an invitation to take tea with the Dowager Countess Malkovic and her daughters, at the family’s town house. As she rang the doorbell it crossed her mind to wonder what she would do if Sasha was inside, and how he would react to her arrival. Of course, he was not there and she passed a pleasant enough afternoon, although she had constantly to guard her tongue while they questioned her about him. It was clear from the start that they all adored him and were hungry for every detail.

  From that day on, she and Adriana became close friends. They went walking and riding together and met constantly at the opera, or concerts or balls. But for all the frenetic gaiety of the city, there was a growing undercurrent of anxiety. If the London Conference did not end with a conclusion agreeable to Serbia, then it would not be accepted and there would be no peace. If it decided in Serbia’s favour and awarded her most of Macedonia, then there would almost certainly be war with Bulgaria. And over all was the looming threat of the mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had already annexed Bosnia-Herzegovina and resented Serbia’s growing influence in the region, and particularly her access to the sea via the port of Durazzo. After the euphoria of victory, the future was looking increasingly uncertain.

  One morning when Leo was sitting at her writing desk, replying to invitations, Tom came in. After a few general remarks he said, ‘Leo, I’m worried about Ralph.’

  ‘Ralph is perfectly capable of taking care of himself,’ Leo responded tersely.

  ‘On a physical level, perhaps. He’s strong and brave and a match for anyone. But he’s not as clever as you, Leo, and he doesn’t always choose his friends very wisely.’

  Leo put down her pen and turned to face him. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Have you ever heard of Dragutin Dimitrijevic?’

  ‘The leader of the regicides? Yes, I was introduced to him the other day. No wonder his friends call him Apis, after the Egyptian god. I’ve never seen anyone who looked more like a bull.’

  ‘He’s the leader of a society that calls itself “Unification or Death”, otherwise known as the Black Hand. I came across some of them at Skopje and I didn’t like what I saw.’

  ‘What do they want to unify?’

  ‘As far as I have been able to discover, their aim is a Greater Serbia, united with Bosnia and Croatia and independent of Austria-Hungary, and they are prepared to use any means to achieve it.’

  ‘How do you know all this?’

  ‘Partly from Max. He keeps his ear pretty close to the ground. And from gossip I’ve picked up over the billiard table. The Black Hand is supposed to be a secret society but everyone knows who they are.’

  ‘Surely they are not contemplating another regicide?’

  ‘I wouldn’t put it past them, but King Petar has done what they wanted and made the army the most important element in the state. Max thinks he’s safe enough, but he wouldn’t be surprised if they are planning some act of provocation that will trigger a war with the Austrians.’

  ‘And you think Ralph is mixed up in this?’

  ‘I’ve seen him with Apis, and one or two of the others. I can imagine them appealing to Ralph. They have this heady mixture of intense patriotism and military glamour that would really catch his imagination.’

  ‘What can we do?’

  ‘The ideal would be to get him back to London and out of harm’s way. But as long as he’s attached to Prince Aleksander there’s no chance of that.’

  ‘Can you talk to him?’

  ‘He won’t listen to me any more.’

  ‘Or me.’

  ‘Then there is nothing we can do, except hope that his own common sense prevents him from getting mixed up in anything really dangerous.’

  Leo sighed and shook her head. ‘I’m not sure that common sense is one of Ralph’s most obvious characteristics.’

  As Tom said, there was nothing they could do except watch and hope. But that evening Leo decided to tackle her brother on another subject.

  ‘Ralph, I should like to ask you something.’

  ‘What about?’ he responded truculently.

  ‘Why are you so hard on Tom?’

  ‘Hard on him! I ought to have called him out and beaten him to a pulp after the way he behaved. He betrayed my trust.’

  ‘Oh, nonsense, Ralph!’ She had intended to remain calm and submissive, but it was not in her nature
. ‘The only thing Tom is guilty of is not showing me up publicly, like you did.’

  ‘What was I supposed to do? Let that ridiculous charade continue?’

  ‘It would have avoided a nasty scene! But that isn’t the point. Let me explain why Tom acted as he did. I begged him to let me continue for a few days, or weeks longer. I wanted to stay until the siege was over. We all thought it couldn’t last much longer. He wasn’t happy about it but I blackmailed him into it.’

  ‘What do you mean, blackmailed?’

  ‘I told him that if he gave me away I would never even consider marrying him.’ She had prepared the lie carefully and it slipped glibly off her tongue. It had the desired effect. For the first time Ralph looked disconcerted. She pressed home her advantage. ‘Ralph, have you any idea what he went through to find me? Has he told you his story? He was arrested the first time he came here to Belgrade and nearly shot as a spy. He saw things on the battlefield around Kumanovo and Bitola that still give him nightmares and then he got ill and nearly died. And after all that, when he was recuperating in Athens and planning to travel to Italy, he got a letter from you asking him to go back into the lion’s jaws to look for me again. And he went, because you asked him to. How can you possibly say he betrayed you?’

  ‘Why didn’t he at least write and let me know you were safe?’

  ‘How could he? The only letters that went out from Adrianople were military despatches. Anyway, you wouldn’t have received the letter if he had written. You had already left England.’

  ‘And that was why he kept quiet, because you threatened not to marry him? I’m surprised he still wanted to.’

  ‘He did it because he cares for both of us. No one could be more loyal. And look how you have repaid him.’

  Ralph folded his arms and walked away from her. The clock on the mantelpiece struck the half hour and he looked round. ‘Shouldn’t you be getting ready for the concert tonight?’

  Leo knew she had done as much as she could. She got up and left him to brood over what she had said.

  *

  Later that night when Tom was preparing for bed Ralph tapped at his door.

  ‘I’d like a few words, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Not at all. Come in.’

  Ralph closed the door but he seemed in no hurry to broach whatever the subject was he wanted to discuss. Instead he wandered over to the dressing table and stood with his back to Tom, fiddling with items on the polished surface.

  At length he said, ‘I’m surprised you are still here. Wouldn’t you prefer to go back to London?’

  ‘I’m here for Leo’s sake,’ Tom replied. ‘I think she needs a friend.’

  ‘I should have thought you would just want to get away from her, after the way she’s behaved.’

  ‘I don’t see that she has behaved badly at all. And I’m certainly not going to throw her over after I chased half way across Europe to find her – at your request, if you remember.’

  ‘Are you still in love with her?’

  Tom looked at him in silence. It seemed neither the truth nor a lie would serve him at this juncture. In the end he said, ‘You know I am extremely fond of both of you. It distresses me that there is this rift between you, and I certainly have no intention of walking out on either of you.’

  Ralph turned to look at him, then came across the room and laid a hand on his shoulder. To his amazement, Tom saw a tear at the corner of his eye. ‘You’re a loyal fellow, Tom, and I’ve treated you badly. I should be thanking you.’ He held out his free hand. ‘Will you accept my apology?’

  Tom took the offered hand and resisted the temptation to pull him closer and put his arms round him. ‘Yes, on one condition. You must make it up with Leo, too. She really is a wonderful girl, you know.’

  When Ralph had gone Tom sat down on the edge of his bed and put his head in his hands. He was trembling. Once, back in Athens, he had thought he was free of the enchantment that had held him in its sway for so long; but the moment Ralph had appeared in Malkovic’s tent he had understood that he could never release himself. When Ralph had turned on him and accused him of betraying his trust, it had felt as if a sharp blade had severed some essential internal ligament that held his personality together. Since that day, he had existed as two separate individuals; one who went about his duties as Leo’s friend and escort and made conversation and even friendships among the young Serbian officers he met; the other a pathetic, shivering creature shut away to starve in darkness. He had begun to hope that one day, deprived of light and nourishment, it would die and leave him with the outer shell that carried on so painlessly with the business of living. But the prison door had been opened and the creature had seized upon the crumbs of comfort offered and now he would never be free of its demands.

  *

  Leo never knew what had passed between the two men, but two days later came news that put the whole matter out of her mind. Adrianople had surrendered at last. The siege was over and the troops were coming home.

  Chapter 21

  Leo lived on tenterhooks for the next week. Then she received a note from Adriana telling her that Sasha was home but had decided to spend some time relaxing on the family estate before re-entering Belgrade society. There was a promise that she would be invited out to the estate to meet him, but she was not surprised when no invitation arrived. A month passed until one night at a reception, when she was languidly fending off the attentions of one of her suitors, which were becoming more pressing as the days passed, she looked across the room and saw him being greeted by their hostess. The shock was so great that she froze in mid-sentence and her companion had to say her name twice before she responded. In panic she rose to her feet, trying to think of an excuse to leave the room; then she sat down again, aware that she was more likely to attract his attention by moving. He was with his family and his elder sister’s husband and was immediately surrounded by well-wishers and people wanting to claim acquaintance with one of the heroes of the campaign and Leo was almost sure he had not seen her. Ralph, however, had seen him and came over.

  Brusquely excusing himself to her cavalier, who withdrew with bad grace, he grabbed Leo’s wrist. ‘Come on, we’re going home.’

  ‘Why?’ she asked, pretending innocence.

  ‘That man is here! I won’t have you meeting him, after the way he behaved last time.’

  That was enough to strengthen Leo’s resolve. ‘You were the one who behaved badly,’ she told him. ‘Anyway, I have no intention of going home. I’m not going to give people the impression that I am ashamed to meet him. That really would be a cause for gossip.’

  Ralph glared at her for a moment longer and must have seen in her eyes that she meant what she said and any attempt to remove her would result in a public fracas. Then he turned and stalked away.

  Leo drew a deep breath and stood up, her chin held high. Let Malkovic see what had been hidden under the disguise of a scruffy boy! She was wearing a dress of onyx-green silk, with a low-cut, square neck decorated with a deep band of silver embroidery. Since leaving the privations of Adrianople she had put on a little weight and for the first time had no reason to feel ashamed of her décolletage. Her hair had begun to grow, but in addition she had had the hank of hair she had cut off at Chataldzha made up into a chignon. As a final touch she wore a necklace of moonstones, from which hung a single splendid emerald. Ralph, ashamed to see his sister without jewels among the glittering beau monde of Belgrade, had sent to England and instructed his bank to send out her grandma’s jewellery by special courier. Most of it was hopelessly old-fashioned but this one item, Leo knew, really suited her. Tom had told her earlier that evening that she looked beautiful, and these days when Tom paid her a compliment she believed it. Abandoning her air of indifference, she turned to her suitors and gave them a smile that rocked them back on their heels.

  As the evening progressed, she watched Sasha moving round the room, shaking hands, bowing, smiling, beset as she was by admirers but always gravel
y self-possessed; never, as she had predicted to Adriana, making an effort to charm. She saw him glance her way once or twice but he made no effort to approach her and she was careful to keep her distance. But at length the effort of trying to appear gay and insouciant became too much and she sought out Tom, who had retreated to the billiard room with some of the men.

  ‘I’m feeling tired, Tom. Would you mind taking me home?’

  ‘Of course not. Get your cloak. I’ll wait for you in the hall.’

  Leo went upstairs to the room that had been set aside for ladies to remove their cloaks and prink themselves, before making their entrance. She picked up her cloak, glanced at herself in the mirror and went to the door, to find Sasha Malkovic waiting in the corridor.

  For a moment neither of them spoke, while he looked her up and down with the familiar sardonic smile. Then he said, ‘So, the lion cub is actually a lioness.’

  ‘More deadly than the male, if we are to believe Mr Kipling,’ she replied, determined to play him at his own game.

  He bent his head in acknowledgement of the riposte. ‘At any rate, not a domestic cat. I confess I am a little at a loss. I expected that skinny youth I knew at Adrianople to metamorphose into a young girl. But you … are a woman.’

  ‘I lied about my age,’ she said.

  ‘I realised that. But I thought you were younger, not older.’ He came a few steps closer and she saw that his face had lost some of the fine-drawn, hollow-cheeked appearance that she remembered. He said, ‘When I saw you across the room this evening it was some time before I could believe the evidence of my eyes.’

  Leo felt as if a hand was at her throat, restricting her breathing. ‘I hope you are not disappointed.’

  ‘On the contrary,’ he said, ‘I am vastly relieved.’

  ‘Relieved? Why?’

  From below they heard women’s voices approaching, then Tom’s. ‘Excuse me, ladies, would you see if Miss Malham Brown is nearly ready? I am waiting for her.’

  ‘I must go,’ she said, and he stepped back to allow her to pass. She hesitated a moment. ‘I expect we shall meet again, now you are here in Belgrade?’