The churchman had been Pitt's tutor at Pembroke, and, owing to his early ascendency over a young mind of exceptional promise, he had remained one of the closest intimates and advisers of the brilliant statesman. It was, perhaps, his vast classical learning and austere rectitude that appealed to Pitt, but everyone else considered him priggish, lacking in imagination and coldly unsympathetic. Grenville was the same age as the Prime Minister and, from his virtuous disposition and great industry, seemed naturally designed to be his satellite; but his pride encased him in a freezing manner which was enhanced by his heavy features and stiff carriage.
Before dinner Roger learned the latest news of the King. On the first and third of the month he had gone out hunting, on the latter day dismounting to waggle the branch of an oak-tree in the belief that he was shaking hands with his friend the King of Prussia, and on both occasions had ridden himself into a state of exhaustion. Then, on the fifth, during a dinner-party at which both the Prince and the Duke had been present, he had suddenly become dangerous. Without the slightest provocation he had rushed upon his eldest son, seized him by the throat, pinned him against the wall and dared him to contradict the King of England. The Prince had burst into tears, the poor Queen became hysterical, and only with the greatest difficulty had the King been persuaded to retire to his room. The following night had witnessed a similar outburst and he had attacked his principal physician, Sir George Baker, who now reported that he feared for His Majesty's life.
The distress of Pitt and his friends was materially increased by the brutal conduct of the Prince of Wales towards his mother. He had taken over the direction of all affairs at Windsor with an abruptness that had caused her much pain; and, without having the decency to wait until it was known if his father had any chance of recovery, he had seized all his private papers.
The Duke of York's behaviour was even more unseemly as, surrounded each night at Brook's by a crowd of sycophants and office-seekers, he was giving imitations of the maniacal noises made by his father, which resembled the barking of a dog.
Roger had already heard of these shameful scenes in which the habitues of Brook's were giving vent to their hilarious joy at their prospects of becoming the rulers of the realm; but, on his expressing his disgust, the Prime Minister said gently:
"Speak not too harshly of the members of Brook's. There are many good fellows among them. I am a member myself, for that matter.
With his usual generosity Charles Fox put me up the very day I made my first speech in the House and, rather than repay so handsome a gesture by a slight, I have never resigned my membership."
They talked then of the future and Pitt announced quite calmly that he was preparing to resume his long-neglected practice at the Bar as a means of livelihood.
"But even in opposition your influence will be invaluable, Sir, in counteracting the evil, selfish policies of these rascals who will assume office," Roger expostulated. "Surely you will not be reduced to giving the greater part of your time to earning your own living?"
"I fear so," shrugged the Prime Minister. "Perhaps I should have feathered my nest while I had the chance. Less than a month ago I refused a gift of a hundred thousand pounds from the City, and during my administration I have used all the sinecures which fell vacant to pension men whom I felt deserved well of the nation, instead of taking any of them for myself. But I was prompted by the feeling that as long as my enemies could not accuse me of self-seeking, I was the better placed to conduct the country's business."
After dinner Roger gave an account of his travels, tactfully glossing over the more hectic of his adventures in deference to the presence of the prim churchman. When he had done the Prime Minister commended him kindly for his zeal, then went on to say:
"You need no longer concern yourself on Mr. Elliot's account. His colleague in Berlin, William Ewart, has succeeded in pulling King Gustavus's chestnuts out of the fire for him. Since last seeing you I have had a despatch to the effect that he has persuaded King Frederick Wilhelm of Prussia to issue a manifesto, stating that unless the Danes abandon their attack on Sweden he will despatch an army of sixteen thousand men to invade their province of Holstein."
Roger had been fretting badly about his inability to carry reassuring news to Hugh Elliot, so he was greatly relieved, and very pleased when Mr. Pitt continued: "As to yourself, you have more than justified my belief in your capabilities, and served us well by procuring such a definite statement of the Empress Catherine's views with regard to war. It seems that there is naught for it now but to curb her ambitions where e'er we may. But that is a task which I must leave to the opposition, for my days in office are clearly numbered."
"I take it, then, Sir, that you will not be able to employ me farther," Roger said, forgetful now of the horrors of the dungeon at Schlusselburg, and made miserable at the thought of this premature close to his promising career.
"I fear that is so, Mr. Brook," Pitt replied. "I would have liked to send you into France, for things are in a pretty tumult there; and a well-informed account as to King Louis's prospects of holding his own against his rebellious subjects would be of value to us. But circumstances deny me the privilege of availing myself of your abilities; though I trust you will allow me to continue to count myself among your friends."
"Indeed, Sir, I shall be greatly honoured," Roger bowed. "In any case, though, I was about to ask your leave to make a flying visit to Denmark, before receiving your instructions about other business. A personal matter requires my attention there, and I shall now set off as soon as I can secure a passage. Will you, perchance, have any missive that you would care for me to convey to Mr. Elliot?"
"Nay. I am too fully occupied with other matters to write to him just now. But I would be obliged if you would wait upon my Lord Carmarthen, at the Foreign Office, before your departure, as his Lordship may well have a despatch that he would like you to transmit." Roger naturally agreed and, soon after, took his leave.
On his ride back to London he was harrassed by a new worry. Before he left on his Russian mission he had been adequately financed by the Foreign Office, and had also had the nine-hundred guineas from the sale of Georgina's tiara; but his various journeyings and cutting a figure in the Northern capitals for five months had consumed nearly all his resources. He had enough money to reach Copenhagen and in the little chest he had left with Natalia there had been the equivalent of a hundred and thirty pounds. But he had sent her the key of it with his first letter, and the odds were that she had spent most of it by now. In any case they would be lucky if they had fifty guineas between them by the time they got back to England.
He had counted on taking Natalia with him when he was next sent to a foreign court, but there were to be no more missions at His Majesty's expense; and, with Mr. Pitt out of office, he might even have difficulty in securing a grant from the secret service funds which would reimburse him for his outlay while in Russia. He had only the three hundred a year that his father allowed him, and at near twenty-one had not so much as a foot on any ladder which might lead him to a lucrative post. Suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, he found himself faced with the frightening problem of how, in such straightened circumstances, he could possibly support an expensive wife like Natalia.
Equally unexpectedly, eight days later, it was solved for him. The first passage that he could get for Copenhagen was in a ship sailing on the 19th, so on the 17th he called on Lord Carmarthen. When he had made his bow, the Foreign Secretary said at once: