Polonaise (53 page)

‘No. I've had enough of your advice. Enough of your company. It's more than time I left for Warsaw.' She turned and led the way back to the main hall.

Wysocki was awaiting her anxiously among the usual crowd of attendants. ‘The carriages await your Highness,' he hurried forward to greet her. ‘If we are to reach Warsaw in time …'

‘Always thoughtful, Pan Wysocki.' She held out her hand for his surprised kiss, turned back to Glynde, every inch the great lady. ‘As for you, Mr. Rendel, I count on you to make up for your past neglect by seeing to it that that ill-conditioned son of mine comes to some understanding of his own bad behaviour. Which I blame on you. I shall hope for better news of my school when I return from Warsaw, or we will have to think again of the position, however lowly, that you occupy in it.' She looked past him to where Herr von Stenck was standing beside Jenny. ‘Master at Arms! You will be in charge here while Pan Wysocki and I are absent.' She swept her little court with her piercing gaze, making sure that her point had gone home. Then, ‘Pan Wysocki, we must go. We have important duties to perform in Warsaw, you and I.'

‘Tell me all the news.' The Princess had hurried to visit Anna Potocka.

‘Not much. Mind you, there's some wild talk going round in the
Sejm
. I hope your man knows his place.'

‘So do I.' Isobel had not meant to say this. ‘But my tutor, Mr. Rendel seems to have been talking a lot of wild, British democracy to him. He actually imagined he was going along to listen and base his decisions on what he heard. I trust I have disabused him of such notions.'

‘He's not the only one. My father-in-law says there's been some fiery talk of a national uprising.'

‘A Polish revolution?'

‘It could come to that.' They exchanged silent glances, both thinking of famous beauties gone to the guillotine in France. ‘But my father-in-law is hopeful,' Anna went on. ‘He says the new Ambassador de Pradt is clay in their hands. And if the
Sejm
shows signs of getting out of hand, they'll just dissolve it.'

She called next morning to announce that the
Sejm
had indeed been dissolved, much to everyone's surprise. ‘They've sent messages of support to Napoleon, and authorised a council to govern in their absence. That cipher de Pradt will be all-powerful, in fact.' She laughed and made a little face at
Isobel. ‘What's this story I hear about your bad boy Casimir? You've not caught cold from your drenching, I do hope.'

‘Not the least in the world.' Isobel had passionately hoped that the story would not get about. ‘Silly child,' she went on. ‘He'd taken some wild idea into his head about my meaning to marry his tutor.' She laughed, with an effort. ‘Not the poor young man's fault, that's for certain. He was scared out of his wits at the very idea!'

‘So you won't have to get rid of him?' Anna went to the heart of the matter.

‘Lord, no. In the main I think he is doing well enough by Casimir. What a dead bore the story has got out here in Warsaw, but I'm grateful to you, my dear, for letting me know it has. The question is, what to do to stop people's tongues? Of course,' she exclaimed. ‘Why did I not think of it sooner? I'll marry him off to the governess; that will take care of everything.'

Napoleon was already installed at Vilno when the deputation from Warsaw reached him. The Russians had withdrawn without a blow struck, and he was in the palace, where a week before the Tsar had entertained his loyal subjects. Now they all danced attendance on Napoleon. Paul Genet, arriving still enraged from what had happened at Vinsk, found that this and other equally barbarous episodes were being shrugged off as fortunes of war. And when the deputation from Warsaw arrived, Napoleon listened to them courteously, but gave them a cool answer that promised nothing. Instead of making one unified Kingdom of Poland from Lithuania and the Duchy, he was setting up an independent state of Lithuania, with Bignon as his representative.

‘It's history repeating itself.' Genet called on Bignon the day Napoleon received the Polish deputation. ‘I was in Warsaw with Tallyrand in 1806. Lukewarm promises; no real commitment.'

‘And the Tsar just the same!' The two men were old friends, having met often at Talleyrand's house in Paris. ‘One does have to be sorry for these Polish nobles, forced to fawn first on one Emperor, then on the other. I'm so very sorry about what happened at Vinsk.'

'You've heard?'

‘You've not exactly been keeping quiet about it, have you? A mistake, perhaps, if you are hoping for a career in the army.'

‘You're right of course. But, frankly, I'm not sure now that I am. I feel it my duty to serve in this campaign, but, when it is over I think I shall ask Talleyrand's help towards a place in civil life.'

‘When it is over,' said Bignon thoughtfully. ‘Tell me, has the order been given yet for the advance?'

‘You know as well as I do that it hasn't. The army's in bad shape, Bignon. There's more than what happened at Vinsk to prove it. Dysentery is killing as many men as a battle would, and the way here is strewn with dead horses … It's one thing to let an army live off the land in central Europe, where the land is rich, but here it is simply madness. You'd have thought he'd have learned that in the campaign before Tilsit.'

‘Yes, but he won that one,' said Bignon, and the two men exchanged a long, thoughtful glance.

‘Will you do something for me?'

‘If I can.'

‘When you write to de Pradt, ask him to make sure the Princess Ovinska is warned of the danger to Rendomierz. I'd not want her and her family to suffer what happened at Vinsk.'

‘I'll certainly write to de Pradt, but I should warn you, he and I are not on the best of terms.' He laughed. ‘Odd that I should have found myself urging the Emperor not to dismiss him outright. Napoleon is enraged,' he explained, ‘because the
Sejm
was dissolved after three days. He had expected them to lead a patriotic war, but the aristocrats are afraid of revolution French-style and persuaded him to get rid of the parliament before it went too far. I managed to convince the Emperor that getting rid of de Pradt would only make matters worse, but nothing will persuade him what a disaster this Dutchman is that he is naming Governor here in Lithuania. He's a man who learned despotism in Java, and even I, who pride myself on getting on with most people, must confess to finding him impossible. Oh well,' he got up and refilled their glasses, ‘let us earnestly hope that August finds our master at Moscow, negotiating a more durable Tilsit with the Tsar.'

Casimir's back healed fast, but as soon as it was better he picked a quarrel with Karol and was found by the Master at Arms beating him almost to death in the empty drill hall. It was unfortunate that the Princess chose the next day to pay a flying visit to Rendomierz. Both Casimir and Karol had black eyes, and Jenny had found it necessary to separate them in the dormitory for fear of more fighting. Hatred sparked between them. ‘What in the world shall we do?' she asked Glynde, when news of the Princess's arrival reached the school.

‘Say they are both ill? Maybe suggest it's infectious?'

‘Admirable! Then she will never visit them.' Hurrying across the pleasure gardens in hot July sunshine, they reached the palace as the Princess's carriage drew up in the forecourt and she emerged, very elegant in another Paris dress.

‘Where are my bad boys?' She looked about the carriage sweep where they were usually drawn up to greet her.

‘Highness,' Glynde moved forward. ‘Two of them are ill. Miss Peverel is not quite sure that the trouble is not infectious. We thought it best …'

‘Quite right. I'm glad you had so much sense, Mr. Rendel. Or should I thank Miss Peverel?' Smiling at Jenny she nodded dismissal to the Master at Arms, who was hoping to lead her into the palace, in his role as commandant in her absence. ‘I have something to say to you, Mr. Rendel, Miss Peverel. In the small salon, I think.'

The small salon had been the Prince's study, and had been little used since his death. It made the summons seem even more strangely formal … Glynde and Jenny exchanged anxious glances as the Princess led the way towards the remote salon, throwing an order over her shoulder as she went for champagne and glasses.

‘What in the world?' whispered Glynde, hanging back.

‘Hush,' said Jenny.

'Sit down, both of you.' The Princess had enthroned herself in the Prince's huge chair. ‘I am thinking of going to Spa,' she told them as a servant arranged wine-cooler and glasses on a marble-topped table. ‘My doctor advises it. Nothing serious,' she waved aside their expressions of concern. ‘He says I have been carrying more of a load than any woman should be expected to bear. I am to leave Casimir behind.' She answered the question before they could ask it. ‘Worry about him is part of my trouble, the doctor thinks. I am to concern myself about nothing but my own well-being. I have sent a message to Miriam, putting her in absolute charge at Vinsk. The question is, how am I to leave things here? In the ordinary way, I would have handed over to Wysocki, but, frankly, after the way he conducted himself in Warsaw, I am not sure I dare. Madmen the lot of them; bonnet over windmill and off to the wars! I don't want to come back to Rendomierz and find all my serfs gone. So I'm going to put you in control here, Mr. Rendel.'

‘I'm honoured. But Herr von Stenck won't like it.'

‘My people don't like taking orders from a Prussian. They have grown to respect you, somehow, and they love Jenny. Pour the champagne, Mr. Rendel. We are going to drink a toast to something that I have seen and you have not. To my deputy –' The cork exploded and Glynde filled three glasses. She raised hers: ‘– and his charming wife. Mr. and Mrs. Rendel!'

‘No!' Jenny put her glass down and rose. ‘We are your servants, Highness, not your serfs. I know I can speak for us both when I tell you your suggestion is absurd.' She had never looked so nearly handsome, Glynde thought, her colour high, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears, which she would not let fall. ‘Mr. Rendel and I are old friends,' she went on steadily. ‘If we have never thought of marriage in all the years we have known and respected each other, it is too late to start thinking of it now.'

‘There's gossip in Warsaw.' The Princess took a long draught of champagne. ‘I'd thought to have spared you this, Jenny.'

‘Gossip!' Jenny dashed an angry hand across her eyes. ‘I expect there has been gossip for years.'

‘Indeed there has. And no wonder. I always lied for you
and denied the stories about you and Paul Genet.' She raised an imperious hand. ‘Don't interrupt! Absolutely your own business, I told Anna Potocka, none of hers nor mine. But now! To be taking money from Mr. Rendel. Your reputation, such as remains, can't stand it, Jenny, and nor can mine as your employer. Something has to be done. I urge you both to think again.'

‘Highness!' Glynde was on his feet, furious, about to say something absolutely disastrous.

‘No.' Jenny put a silencing hand on his arm. ‘Let me explain.' She turned back to the Princess, chin up. ‘Highness, when you sent for me, all those years ago, you promised to look after me.'

‘And so I have. Look at you!'

‘You have been lavish, Highness.' She looked down at her sober cambric dress. ‘I hope my appearance has not disgraced you. I have never been cold in winter, nor hungry. But I have earned no wage. I have been able to put nothing by for old age, or for when you no longer need me. When Casimir grows up, perhaps. Your husband gave me a chain of rubies, once. It is all I have earned from your house in the years I have served it. Oh – I think you would never let me starve. You are too proud for that. But, I am proud too. So – when Mr. Rendel very kindly offered me a salary out of the estate you gave him, I was happy to accept.' She was blushing now, but her eyes met Isobel's steadily.

‘You'll take his charity, but you won't marry him?'

‘Not charity, Highness,' Glynde interposed. ‘A well-earned wage.'

‘Which I should have paid! Is that what you are saying?'

‘I suppose it is.'

‘I see.' She looked savagely from him to Jenny and back. ‘You made a bargain with me, Mr. Rendel, when I asked you to take on Casimir. You held out for an estate! I do find myself wondering who put you up to that! And now she won't marry you! Well, I'm not sure that I blame her! Not even with your expectations!' She drained her glass, threw it at the wall and swept from the room.

They stood for a moment, gazing at each other. Then: ‘Just what did she mean by that, I wonder?' Glynde raised his glass
in salute, drank to her. ‘You're braver than I am. Thank you.'

‘This may tell you something. I didn't have a chance to give it to you before.' The blush had faded, leaving her chalk-white. ‘Marylka has heard from the Brotherhood. She stopped me in the hall. This letter for you, and a warning.'

‘Warning?' He was eagerly tearing open the letter from his aunt, which looked as if it had been to the end of the world and back.

‘There's a Russian army, somewhere to the south. They don't know which way it's moving. It might be making for Warsaw, this way. No one should leave the palace.'

‘Good God!' He had hardly heard her. ‘I'm Lord Ringmer! My father and brother are both dead. His wife has no hopes of a child …' His voice was suddenly quiet. ‘I own half Sussex. Marry me?' Now what in the world had made him say that? ‘You and Genet,' the Princess had said. His mistress?

‘Handsome of you.' A strange little smile. ‘But the answer is still no. I'm so happy for you! We don't need to pretend, do we, you and I, about your father and brother. You'll make an admirable landlord. But how will you get there?' Stick to hard facts. She had refused him twice in five minutes. There would be time to think about that later.