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.These sights had become as familiar to Caroline as any London landmark.But there was something different about St Petersburg this morning.No elegantly-furred figures were skating on the frozen Neva; no servants in the leather overcoats of the peasant class were hurrying to haggle for provisions in the markets.Even the beggars seemed to have gone to ground somewhere.The streets were empty apart from their own carriage, and the houses were shuttered and barred.Sacha was frowning, his expression as puzzled as Caroline’s.As the coachman turned the corner into Sergeievskaya Street, the first sign of life met their eyes.A group of Cossacks was riding towards the carriage, their rifles at half-cock.At their challenge the coachman reined in the horses.Sacha had recognised one of the Cossacks.He leant out of the window, and called, ‘Vassili Sosnovsky! What is afoot?’Sosnovsky dismounted, and approached the carriage door, but he was still carrying his rifle, and there was no smile of recognition on his face.‘Do you have any means of identification?’ he demanded.‘Don’t be absurd!’ Sacha snapped.‘You know very well who I am.What is going on?’‘A state of emergency has been declared in St Petersburg,’ Sosnovsky said, ‘and unless you can furnish formal means of identification I shall, under the powers vested in me, be forced to arrest you.’Sacha stared at his brother-officer for a moment, and then fumbled in his coat pocket.Sosnovsky studied the identification papers cursorily before returning them.‘I regret that that was necessary,’ he told Sacha, his manner more relaxed.‘You have been away from St Petersburg, of course, so you have not heard the news.An attempt was made to assassinate the Czar early this morning.’‘Good lord!’ Sacha exclaimed.‘Some madman, surely—’‘No.He was sane enough.The man was a Nihilist, and the attempt was premeditated.His Imperial Majesty was crossing the Palace Square when the would-be assassin stepped towards him and fired four shots.Mercifully, his aim was poor.The people in the square overpowered him, and he tried to swallow a pill and so cheat the firing squad.But it was knocked from his hand, and he was arrested.’Sosnovsky added grimly, ‘We have been too soft with the Nihilists.Things will change after this.There is to be a purge.You had better see your sister safely home, Count Antonov, and then report to your commanding officer.The Czar needs all his loyal bodyguards at this time.’Sacha thanked him, and the coachman continued the journey.A pall of silence hung over St Petersburg, as if the city were holding its breath.Inside the carriage, too, Sacha and Caroline were silent, absorbed in their own thoughts.When they reached the Antonov residence they found its occupants in a state of suppressed excitement.Briefly Sacha explained that Caroline, overcome by sudden homesickness, had appealed to Grigori to help her leave the country.He had taken her to Ivaskara, as Sacha had guessed, and left her there while he went to enquire about obtaining a passage for her.‘When he returns and finds her gone,’ Sacha ended with a grim smile, ‘he’ll no doubt decide that it would be prudent to wait a while before he comes home to St Petersburg to face me.’In different circumstances Uncle Viktor, if not the aunts, would probably have questioned Sacha’s explanation.But Aunt Natalia accepted it with a look of relief, and Uncle Viktor merely said, ‘Grigori will kick himself for being absent from St Petersburg and missing the excitement.Some officers are talking of dragging the assassin from the fortress, and stringing him up on a lamp-post.’Caroline found Katya at her side.‘I wish you would go up and see Michael.The child has been inconsolable since it was discovered that you had left.’In an abstracted mood, Caroline made her way to the nursery.Michael flung himself at her.‘Marisha!’ he accused tearfully.‘You went away! Why did you go away?’‘Hush, dear.I’m back now.’‘You musn’t do it again! You must promise not to do it again!’‘Michael,’ she said soberly, ‘how can I promise that? I may have to go away in the future.’‘Then you must take me with you!’ he demanded.Caroline sighed.‘I can’t even promise that, Michael.But I will promise you one thing—I won’t go away again without telling you first.’He considered for a moment before knuckling the tears from his eyes.‘Then I’ll cry and cry, Marisha, so that you’ll have to take me with you [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]