An hour passed, then two, three. And still the governess did not return. Karnovich stayed by the telephone the whole time, but none of the calls was the one he wanted.
There were three telephone calls from the Alexandriisky Palace on behalf of the tsar and two from Kirill Alexandrovich. And then shortly after six Simeon Alexandrovich arrived with his adjutant. He declined to enter the house and ordered cold fruit punch in the arbour. Cornet Glinsky, who was accompanying the governor general, was about to join His Highness, but the grand duke told him rather sharply that he wished to be alone, and the young man was left waiting outside the railings with the air of a beaten dog.
‘Howare your Englishmen getting on?’ Simeon Alexandrovich asked when I served the fruit punch. ‘They probably feel completely abandoned because of . . .’ He gestured vaguely with one hand. ‘Because of all this. How is Mr Carr?’
I did not reply immediately to this question. Only a little earlier I had heard the sounds of a rather noisy argument between Lord Banville and his friend as I was walking down the corridor.
‘I expect, Your Highness, that His Lordship and Mr Carr are upset by what has happened.’
‘Mmm, well, that is not hospitable.’ The grand duke flicked a cherry-red drop off his pampered moustache and drummed his fingers on the table. ‘I tell you what, brother, invite Mr Carr to join me here. There is something I wish to discuss with him.’
I bowed and set off to carry out his instructions. I was struck by the tragic expression on the face of Prince Glinsky – drooping eyebrows, pale lips, a despairing look in the eyes. Ah, sir, if I only had your problems, I thought.
Mr Carr was sitting in front of the mirror in his room. He had a lacy net over his remarkable yellowhair, and his scarlet dressing gown with dragons was wide open across his white hairless chest. When I conveyed His Highness’s invitation in French, the Englishman turned pink and asked me to say that he would be there immediately. ‘Tout de suite’4 extended in practice to a good quarter of an hour, but Simeon Alexandrovich, well known for his impatience and irritability, waited without a murmur.
When Mr Carr came out to go to the arbour, he looked a real picture. The rays of the sun glittered and sparkled on his impeccable coiffure, the collar of his blue shirt supported his rouged cheeks exquisitely, and the snow-white dinner jacket with a green forget-me-not in the buttonhole was simply dazzling.
I do not knowwhat His Highness and the beautiful gentleman spoke about, but I was shocked when Mr Carr responded to some comment from Simeon Alexandrovich by laughing and striking him across the wrist with two fingers.
I heard convulsive sobbing and on turning round saw Prince Glinsky dashing away, kicking out his long legs in uhlan breeches just like a little girl.
My God, my God.
Mademoiselle returned at six minutes to eight. As soon as Karnovich, who had been waiting together with me on the porch, saw the long-awaited carriage at the end of the drive, he immediately sent me to get Fandorin, so that I only had a brief glimpse of the familiar white hat behind the broad figure of the driver.
I trudged along the corridor to Erast Petrovich’s door and was about to knock on it, but the sounds coming from inside literally paralysed me.
It was the same kind of sobbing that I had heard the night before.
I could not believe my ears. Could Xenia Georgievna possibly have taken leave of her senses so far that she was visiting here during the day? I recalled that I had not seen Her Highness even once that morning – she had not come to either breakfast or lunch. What on earth was going on?
After glancing around, I pressed my ear to the keyhole with which I was already so familiar.
‘Enough of that n-now, enough,’ I heard Fandorin say with his distinctive stammer. ‘Later you will be sorry for speaking to me so frankly.’
A thin, faltering voice replied: ‘No, no, I can see from your face that you are a noble man. Why does he torment me so? I shall shoot this detestable British flirt and then shoot myself! In front of his very eyes!’
No, it was not Xenia Georgievna.
Reassured, I knocked loudly.
Fandorin opened the door to me. Simeon Alexandrovich’s adjutant was standing at the window with his back to me.
‘Please come to the drawing room,’ I said in a calm voice, looking into those hateful blue eyes. ‘Mademoiselle Declique has returned.’
‘I waited for at least forty minutes in that big half-empty church, and no one approached me. Then an altar boy came up and handed me a note with the words: “I was told to give you this.”’ Mademoiselle pronounced the last phrase in Russian.
‘Who told him, did he say?’ Karnovich interrupted.
‘Where is the note?’ said Simeon Alexandrovich, holding out his hand imperiously.
The governess looked in confusion from the colonel to the governor general, as if she did not know who to answer first.
‘Don’t interrupt!’ Georgii Alexandrovich roared menacingly.
Pavel Georgievich and Fandorin were also present in the drawing room, but they did not utter a single word.
‘Yes, I asked who the note was from. He said: “From a man” and walked away.’
I saw Karnovich write something down in a little notebook and I guessed that the choirboy would be found and questioned.
‘They took the note away from me later, but I rememberwhat it said word for word: “Go out into the square, walk along the boulevard and round the small church.” The text was in French, and it was written in cursive handwriting, not printed. The writing was fine and it slanted to the left.’
Mademoiselle looked at Fandorin, and he gave her a nod of approval. My heart was wrung.
‘I did what it said. I stood beside the church for about ten minutes. Then a tall broad-shouldered man with a black beard and a hat pulled down over his eyes nudged me with his shoulder as he was walking by, and when I glanced round, he gestured inconspicuously for me to follow him, and I did. We walked up to the top of the side street. There was a carriage waiting there, but not the same one as yesterday, although it was black too, with its blinds tightly closed. The man opened the door and helped me in, feeling my dress as he did so. He was obviously looking for weapons.’ She shuddered in disgust. ‘I said to him: “Where is the boy? I won’t go anywhere until I have seen him.” But he seemed not to have heard me. He shoved me in the back and locked the door from the outside, and then he climbed onto the coach box – I could tell that from the way the carriage leaned over – and we set off. I discovered that the windows were not only covered with blinds but also boarded up on the inside so that there was not a single chink. We drove for a long time. In the darkness I could not check my watch, but I think that more than an hour went by. Then the carriage stopped. The driver got in, closed the door behind him and tied a piece of cloth tight over my eyes. “There’s no need; I won’t peep,” I told him in Russian, but once again he took no notice of what I said. He took me by the waist and set me down on the ground, and after that I was led by the hand, but not very far – only eight steps. Rusty hinges squeaked and I suddenly felt cold, as if I had entered a house with thick stone walls.’
‘Now as much detail as possible,’ Karnovich ordered sternly.
‘Yes, yes. They made me go down a steep stairway, which was quite short. I counted twelve steps. There were several people there, all men – I caught the smell of tobacco, boots and a male perfume. An English eau de cologne. I can’t remember what it’s called, but you could ask Lord Banville and Mr Carr; they use the very same one.’
‘The Earl of Essex,’ said Fandorin. ‘The most fashionable fragrance of the season.’