I intended, of course, to acquaint you with the facts before we reached England; but I was so very happy during our recent voyage, that a cowardly, and I trust, unjustified fear of marring our bliss by this disclosure caused me to postpone an explanation with you.
And now, with the utmost reluctance and distress, I must acquaint you with my second disclosure. On my reporting to Mr. Elliot, this afternoon, the results of my mission to date, he seized upon my coming to request that I would undertake another matter for him. 'Tis, in short, that I should set out instantly to carry a despatch for him to Stockholm.
None of his usual couriers are, at the moment, available;and he considers it essential that the document he wishes to send should go by the hand of someone in whom he can place implicit trust. Moreover, it is of the utmost urgency. Despite my pleas that it was unreasonable to ask me to interrupt our honeymoon, he insisted that I had been sent to him by Heaven in his extremity; so I could not find it in myself to refuse.
I shall be gone only the inside of a week, and during my absence Mr, Elliot is arranging for the Countess Reventlow to introduce you into Danish society and see that you lack for nothing. Meanwhile I send you the key of our money chest, and do assure you that I shall be thinking only of the moment when I can rejoin you.
I beg you, my dear love, to think of me with such forbearance and kindness as you can. And should the least doubt linger in your mind as to my complete devotion to you, I pray you to recall that it was at my own solicitation that we were remarried in the English church at Petersburg. The vows which I took there remain my most cherished memory, and you may rest assured of my intention to honour them for all my days.
Your greatly distressed but most loving husband.
ROGER BROOK.
Having finished the letter Roger read it through and was moderately pleased with it. He regretted having to tell her two new lies, but that was unavoidable, as the real truth involved Mr. Pitt and therefore had to remain secret. The cover-story that he had invented to explain his having masqueraded as a Frenchman was a partial admission that he was a secret agent; but the inference was that he had been concerned only in ferreting out the secrets of the French, and to that, he felt, Natalia Andreovna could take no serious exception.
After addressing the missive and sealing it with a wafer he remained sitting moodily at title desk for a further quarter of an hour; then Hugh Elliot came hurrying in.
"Cheer up, man!" he cried, giving Roger a friendly slap on the shoulder. "You are in nowhere near so serious a scrape as some in which it seems you got yourself while in Russia; and all goes excellently. I found the Reventlows at home, and on my telling the Count that I desired to get swiftly to Stockholm to see if I could not act as a mediator between the two warring nations he readily agreed to lend me his yacht."
"And the Countess?" Roger inquired.
"She is the sweetest creature, and I knew that we could count upon her. I said that for the negotiations I hope to set on foot 'twas essential that I should take with me a trustworthy companion to act as secretary or confidential messenger when the need arose. The moment I told her of my intention to tear you from your bride she volunteered at once to take her into her own home during your absence. She ordered her carriage and, having accompanied me back here, is now sitting in it outside. You have but to give her your letter and she will drive with it into the city, to deliver it with her own hand and comfort Mrs. Brook when she learns its contents."
"I ain indeed grateful," Roger said more cheerfully. Then he went out to renew his acquaintance with the Countess and thank her personally for her kindness. .
Since there was nothing more that he could do about Natalia, he endeavoured to put her out of his mind while Hugh Elliot brought him up to date with events in Copenhagen. At four o'clock they sat down to dinner, and over it he gave the Minister a more detailed version of all that had befallen him in Stockholm and St. Petersburg. Then at five o'clock they prepared to set out for the harbour. Roger had come ashore wearing his sword, but otherwise he had only the clothes he stood up in, so his companion packed some extra shirts and stockings into his valise.
In the meantime Count Reventlow had sent a message to the captain of his yacht to collect his crew and prepare the ship for sea; so when the two Englishmen went aboard they found the long low craft all but ready to set sail. By seven o'clock the last hamper of fresh provisions had been stowed away and the anchor was weighed.
Soon after midnight they were challenged off the island of Born-holm by a warship of the Russo-Danish squadron, which was now operating in the Southern Baltic, again and next morning, as they headed north through Calmar Sound, by a Swedish frigate; but, in deference to Mr. Elliot's presence on board, the yacht was flying the British flag, so, as a neutral, she was allowed to pass on her way. The weather was cold but fine and the beautiful little ship scudded along at a fine pace, bringing them safely to Stockholm a little before mid-day on Friday, the 21st, only forty-one hours after she had left Copenhagen.
At such a time of crisis it seemed more probable that Gustavus would be with his army than at his palace out at Drottingsholm, so on landing, at Roger's suggestion, they went straight to the house of Prebendary Nordin, to ascertain the King's whereabouts.
They found the Prebendary at home and were shown up at once to the book-lined room in which Roger had had his fateful interview with the Swedish King. Nordin's surprise at seeing Mr. Elliot was only equalled by his joy. Rising from his desk he said with a grave smile:
"Your Excellency finds us in most dire straits; but even if you bring bad news it will be more than counterbalanced by the effect of your presence among us."
"I thank you, Sir," Elliot replied, "and only trust that your hope may be justified. Having formed the opinion that the only chance of saving Sweden is to arrange an immediate accommodation with the Danes I am come to offer my services as mediator should His Majesty be pleased to accept them."
"His Majesty has never doubted your Excellency's kind intentions towards us," said the Prebendary a shade uncomfortably. "But unfortunately your Government has so far shown no signs of implementing the promises you have made on its behalf. Therefore, 'tis only fair to tell you that, seeing his affairs in so critical a state, His Majesty has recently contemplated renewing his old friendship with France, and asking King Louis to endeavour to arrange an accommodation between him and his enemies."
" 'Tis for His Majesty to decide," replied Elliot quickly. "But were he to do that I fear he would have cause to rue it. This is no occasion to enter into the respective advantages which a lasting friendship with either country would offer His Majesty; but one factor is clear. Any delay in an attempt to open negotiations with the Danes must now spell his final ruin. There is no time to seek the good offices of the Court of Versailles, whereas I am on the spot, and if His Majesty is willing, could act immediately."
"Our plight is bad, but not yet desperate," countered Nordin.
"I fear you are mistaken, Sir," Roger cut in, and he then disclosed the Danish plan to swing south on Gothenborg.
As the Prebendary listened his expression became one of the deepest gloom, and when Roger had done, he muttered: "Since the Danes announced their intention to honour their treaty with Russia we have taken such measures as we could. 'Tis believed that they mean to invade us by way of the Friedrikshald gap. Our fortress of Quistrum, there, should hold them for a time; but once it is passed the province of Nordmark will be open to them. It is natural to anticipate that they would advance due east upon the capital, and His Majesty intends to deploy such forces as he can muster in their path. As he has little but a rabble of armed peasants with which to oppose them our case even then would be bad enough. But if their objective is Gothenborg our situation is indeed desperate; and nought but your Excellency's good offices, immediately applied, can save us."