"Accompany you, Sir!" Roger repeated in surprise. " 'Tis the first that you have said of going thence yourself."
The tall Scotsman smiled at him. "I took the resolution only in these last few moments. But desperate situations require desperate remedies. Although I am accredited to the court of Denmark, I am also charged with a watching brief over British interests at the court of Sweden as long as the post there remains unoccupied. We are far from London and despite my appeals no guidance has been forthcoming from my Lord Carmarthen. The step I contemplate may mean the premature ending of my career, but since our Government hesitates to fulfil its obligations, 'tis all the more fitting that their representative should stand beside the King of Sweden in his hour of trial. If they repudiate me afterwards at least I'll have the satisfaction of having saved my own honour."
"Well said, Sir!" exclaimed Roger. "Then I'll go with you! Though God alone knows how I'll account for my projected absence to Mistress Brook. But stay! Since you are now resolved on going yourself, and will be able to acquaint the King with the Danish plan, surely 'tis no longer essential that I should quit my wife and thus embroil myself with her?"
"I fear it is," replied the Minister. "You seem to have overlooked the fact that I am accredited to both Courts. As His Majesty's representative here I cannot betray the Danish plans to Sweden, or vice versa. The retailing of the news you have brought is your affair and, officially, I must know nothing of it. My reason for going is to show Gustavus that Britain has not totally deserted him; and, if I can, concert means with him to persuade the Danes to cease hostilities."
"Surely that would be well-nigh impossible?"
"It certainly appears so; but at least I can make the attempt, and as I have a foot in both camps I am well placed to do so."
Roger saw that, having committed himself in a moment of enthusiasm for Hugh Elliot's fine integrity, he could not possibly back down now; but he was at his wit's end how to break the news to Natalia Andreovna. He had known all along that before they reached England he would have to disclose his real identity, but while they were cruising down the Baltic he had let sleeping dogs lie, in the belief that he would still have ample time after they left Copenhagen to consider how to do so with the least chance of disrupting their good relations.
But now he was called on to tell her as much of the truth as was essential without any preparation. Whatever he said must come as a grave shock to her, and to make matters worse, he would be unable to remain with her afterwards to soften the effects of the blow.
Elliot guessed from Roger's worried look what was passing in his mind, so he said quietly: "Why, instead of returning to have an explanation with your wife, do you not leave a letter for her. 'Tis not, I admit, the bravest course in such a situation, but as the proverb has it, 'discretion is oft the better part' of valour'."
"I could do that," Roger murmured uneasily, "providing she gets the letter speedily. Otherwise she will begin to fear that some accident has befallen me."
"She shall have it within the hour, I promise you. Come, now. Sit down at my table and write it while I ride over to the Reventlows. You will remember spending a Sunday with them when you were here before. The Count owns a splendid sea-going yacht, and I feel sure that he will lend it to us for our journey. We'll make better time going by sea than over land to Stockholm. I shall also speak to the Countess of the straits in which duty compels you to leave Mrs. Brook, and I can vouch for it that your wife will be well taken care of."
"So be it," agreed Roger, sitting down. "To slide out thus from dancing to the music now the tune is called goes all against the grain; but as a man of your courage recommends it, that salves my conscience to some extent. 'Twill not quiet my anxieties during our absence, for I shall be fretting to know how my wife has sustained the impact of learning the deceit that I have practised upon her; but since our departure must be immediate 'tis perhaps better that I should leave without her reproaches and abuse ringing in my ears."
"You intend, then, to tell her that you are an Englishman?"
"Yes. It would but make matters worse to continue to hide under my French nom-de-guerreand pretend that I am deserting her on account of some business connected with that nation; for that, at no distant date, would prove one more deceit that I should be hard put to it to justify. I pray you tell the truth to Countess Reventlow, and tender my apologies to her for having accepted her hospitality under a false nationality.
The diplomat nodded. "I will take full responsibility for that, and am confident that she will not hold it against you. As for the rest, while we are in Sweden your wife will have time to calm her thoughts, and on your return she may prove much more amenable than had you thrown this bombshell into her lap yourself."
Comforted a little by this last suggestion Roger wryly smiled goodbye to his host and sat down to compose his letter. For some moments he chewed the end of the quill, made three false starts, and, finally, wrote as follows:
My dearest love,
I have to crave your forgiveness upon two matters which will, I fear, come as a severe shock to you; but I pray that you will do your best to give them your sympathetic understanding and accept my assurance that the duplicity which circumstances have forced me to practise in no way affects the depths of my feelings for you.
In the first place I must disclose that my real name is Roger Brook, and that I am the son of an English Admiral. Having acquired in my upbringing some knowledge of maritime matters I was requested, during my tour of the Northern capitals, to make an investigation into the sea-trade carried on by our commercial rivals, the French, in the Baltic ports, and to report upon it on my return.
The suggestion that I should combine the mission with what was originally intended to be a tour, undertaken solely for education and pleasure, arose from the fact that I had already spent some years in France, and that during the latter part of my sojourn in that country, it had often amused me to pass myself off as a Frenchman.
Obviously, to assume that role again opened to me better prospects of carrying out my mission than I should have otherwise enjoyed. In consequence, on my arrival in Copenhagen last April the British Minister here, Mr. Hugh Elliot, introduced me into Danish society as M. le Chevalier de Breuc, and I naturally journeyed on to Stockholm and Petersburg in that role.
I suppose that when I first fell in love with you I ought to have confided my secret to you; but as we then had no thought of marrying it did not seem essential to me that I should do so. Then, later, the circumstances of our marriage were so unusual that I was denied the opportunity of revealing the matter before the ceremony.