The Masters Page 6

  “Ah...” Duncan glanced at his mother, and received a quick nod. “Yes, it sounds tremendous fun.”

  “Hm,” Georgei said. “I agree that it could be done. But it would require considerable planning.”

  “Then begin planning, now,” Anna told him. “We want to be away as quickly as possible.”

  “You haven’t asked my opinion,” Sophie said.

  “It’s not relevant now,” Anna pointed out. “Four of us are for going.”

  “I’m still entitled to an opinion,” Sophie insisted. “I think the idea is crazy. Trek through those mountains, with winter coming on, to reach Peking? And then what? They hate all Russians in Peking.”

  “That is true,” Jennie agreed.

  “Well, then, we can keep on going north-west, and cross the Amur,” Anna said. “Then we’ll be in Russia. They’ll look after us there.”

  “Oh...” Sophie waved her arms. “You’re just an impossible romantic, Aunt Anna! You have no concept of the hardship, of the danger...”

  “I think I know more about hardship and danger than you do, Sophie,” Anna said. She looked at Jennie. “You are the head of the family, here. Are we going, or not?”

  “Well...” Jennie bit her lip, and looked from face to face.

  “I think we should all be aware of the alternative,” Anna said. “The Japanese mean to attack Port Arthur. That means that when they are ready, those warships out there are going to start bombarding the port. Port Arthur may be impregnable, but that isn’t going to keep out the shells. Have you ever been under fire, Sophie?”

  “The Japanese have no quarrel with us,” Sophie insisted.

  “Unfortunately,” Anna pointed out, “the men firing the guns will not even know who we are. You must decide, Jennie.”

  Jennie drew a long breath. “If the governor will provide us with passports, and if we can organise a sufficiently strong party to withstand any attack on bandits, then we will do as you say, Anna, and go north into Russia.” She looked at Georgei. “I will leave this in your care, Georgei.”

  “I will attend to it immediately, Mama,” Georgei promised, and called for his horse.

  Georgei duly got to work, but as on every visit to Port Arthur he felt it necessary to spend some time in the Blue Dragon. His preparations took time, quite apart from the Chinese habit of procrastination. The Governor reminded the importunate Russian lawyer that he had a great many things to do, preparing Port Arthur for the inevitable attack by the Japanese fleet, all of which were more important than providing passports for a group of people who, thanks to the sad death of the Prince, had suddenly become quite unimportant. As for recruiting a small army, he needed every man capable of bearing arms to remain in Port Arthur.

  Next day the promised passports still hadn’t arrived, so Georgei again went into town to chivvy the governor. Anna spent the morning on the roof verandah watching the Japanese ships; there seemed many more of them today than a week ago. Patricia and Jennie were busy packing, deciding what they could take and what they could not. Duncan sat with his mother on the roof. “Makes one feel kind of...well, irrelevant,” he remarked.

  “That’s our business, being irrelevant,” Anna said. “Certainly as far as this conflict is concerned.”

  “I don’t suppose there’d be much point in joining the Army,” he said disconsolately. “There aren’t even any Indians to fight, any more.”

  “And long may it stay that way. How do you feel about Chinese bandits?”

  He grinned. “Just bring ‘em on.”

  “Very reassuring, I’m sure.”

  “Mom...how long do you plan to stay in Russia?”

  Anna glanced at him. “Are you in that much of a hurry to get home?”

  “As a matter of fact, I’ve been thinking, maybe, as I’m here, or perhaps I should say, there, or nearly...”

  “You are yammering,” Anna pointed out.

  “Well, I was wondering if maybe I shouldn’t use the opportunity to have a real look at the country. After all, I’m half-Russian...”

  “What about Harvard? Rowing?”

  “Well...would a year or so make that much difference. On top of this one, I mean?”

  Anna felt like scratching her head. Talk about volte faces. But before she could decide what to say, Duncan was on his feet. “Here’s Georgei. Riding like the clappers.”

  Anna got up as well, peered down at the yard as Georgei threw himself from his horse and ran up the steps. “We’d better go down.”

  They went down the stairs. Jennie and her daughters were already there. “Whatever is the matter?” the Princess Bolugayevska demanded. “Won’t General Yuan give you the passports?”

  Georgei threw his hat at one of the servants. “Oh, he’ll give us the passports, Mama. I have them here. But they won’t do us any good. The Japanese have landed just north of the Neck.”

  CHAPTER 3 - THE ASSAULT

  “What are we to do?” Jennie asked.

  “Just keep our heads,” Anna recommended. “We are Russians and Americans. We have nothing to do with this war. We have our passports, supplied by the Governor of Port Arthur. So, we leave. The Japanese aren’t going to stop us. They wouldn’t dare. There would be the most colossal international incident if they did.”

  Jennie looked at her daughters. Patricia was still in a state of high excitement; Sophie looked scared. “I’m not going,” she said. “I’m not going to be taken prisoner and raped by any Japanese.”

  “Oh, really!” Anna snapped.

  But it was an academic argument. Next morning Nikolai the butler reported that there was severe fighting at the Neck. “No one could hope to pass through there without being shot.”

  “Then our decision is made for us,” Jennie decided. “We stay put. Nikolai, I wish you to break out all the Russian flags you have. Set one above the house, and stick the others on the walls.”

  “Do you think that will keep out a shell?” Anna inquired.

  “We are nowhere near the port. Nobody is going to shell us here. The important thing is that, should the Japanese get in, we will be seen to be neutral.”

  “I thought Port Arthur was impregnable,” Georgei asked.

  *

  The next day the Japanese fleet began shelling the harbour, but as Jennie had prognosticated, they aimed at the town. “Can we go and see what’s happening?” Patricia asked.

  “Certainly not,” Jennie snapped. “As of now, Port Arthur is out of bounds, for everyone.” And she looked at Georgei.

  “But we have to buy food,” Sophie protested.

  “Let Nikolai do it.”

  “I don’t think that’s quite fair,” Anna said. “If one of the servants has to go into town, I think one of the family should go with him. We cannot ask our people to take risks we are not prepared to take ourselves. I will go with Nikolai, tomorrow.” There was a chorus of objections, and equally, of volunteers to accompany her. “I am going alone,” she announced.

  Anna went into town early, accompanied by both Nikolai and Rurik, who drove the trap. It was a bright September morning, crisp and cool as the sun was just peeping above the eastern horizon. “It is bad,” Nikolai said. “Very bad. None of the Chinese servants have come in.”

  As they drove down the road to the port Anna could see why the Chinese had preferred to stay at home. Large areas of the town still burned, and the streets were thronged with people, some angry, some frightened, most dazed. On the other hand, the harbour installations had not been damaged, and none of the ships at anchor had even been hit, so far as she could make out. “They wish to terrorise the population, Your Excellency,” Rurik suggested. “But to take the port intact.”

  “Port Arthur is impregnable,” Anna repeated. “Leave the trap at the stable. We will walk to the store and you can pick us up when we are ready to leave. But you will come with us to the store.” She found his presence reassuring, and perhaps even necessary. When they reached the grocery they found themselves on the edge of a h
uge, milling crowd, all clamouring for food.

  “Ling-tsi has doubled his prices,” Nikolai said, interpreting the shouts about him. “So the crowd has threatened to take what they wish, so he has put up his shutters. Now they are threatening to burn the shop down.”

  “But if they do that everything will be destroyed!” Anna said.

  “Mobs are not reasonable things, Your Excellency. I think we should go home. This could turn out badly.”

  “Surely there are other shops we can try?”

  Nikolai pulled his nose, doubtfully. And Rurik pointed. “Soldiers.” They watched a company of soldiers marching towards them, obviously with the intention of dispersing the mob, which they did in true Chinese fashion, swinging their rifle butts to and fro, regardless of who they were hitting. Rurik threw both arms round Anna to shelter her and to drag her away; she lost her footing and went sprawling. Rurik immediately lifted her back up, but she had been buffeted and bruised by the people pushing past her, and her nostrils were choked with dust. Now they were being jostled and pushed to and fro by the fleeing, screaming people.

  Rurik got her into the shelter of a tree, which divided the human flood, and she leaned against the trunk and panted, gazing at the space in front of the shop, which was littered with bodies, writhing and groaning, and still being kicked or beaten by the soldiers. “Where’s Nikolai?” Anna asked.

  “I have no idea, Your Excellency. They are coming here.” Anna looked up to see the Chinese captain marching towards her, followed by six of his men. She tensed herself for some unpleasantness, hut the officer stood to attention in front of her, grinned at her, and bowed. He then addressed her. “He wishes to apologise for the disturbance, Your Excellency, and hopes you are not hurt,” Rurik translated.

  “No, I am not hurt,” Anna said. She had no doubt she had several bruises, and she reckoned her dress and hat were ruined, but these things did not seem relevant compared with what had happened to so many other people.

  The officer spoke again. “He wishes to know if you have come here to go shopping, Your Excellency.”

  “Yes,” Anna said.

  “He says you must have plenty money.”

  “I have plenty money,” Anna said. The Chinese soldiers escorted her to the store, and banged on the door until it was opened. “I wish to know what has happened to Nikolai,” Anna told Rurik. “Go and find him.”

  “And leave you here alone, Your Excellency?”

  “I seem to have half the Chinese army protecting me,” Anna pointed out. The mob had gathered on the far side of the square and on street corners, looking distinctly hostile.

  Anna went inside and made her purchases from an obsequious merchant. She reckoned he must have more than doubled his prices, but she paid what he wanted to secure enough food for the next couple of weeks at least, and waited while he packed it up. He chattered all the time, and to the Chinese officer, who had accompanied her into the store, most solicitously. She had no idea what either of them was saying, and looked up in some relief as Rurik returned, together with a shamefaced Nikolai. “I am sorry, Your Excellency,” the butler said. “I did not know what had happened to you...”

  “And you weren’t prepared to find out,” Rurik said.

  “The important thing is that we are all unharmed,” Anna said. “Now it is a matter of getting this food back to the house.”

  Anna went outside on to the square, looked at the crowd, who continued to stare at her with hostility, when they, and she, were distracted by screams and shouts and the beating of a drum. Down the main road from the hills there came a company of soldiers, many carrying stretchers containing wounded men, preceded by two drummers.

  The mob promptly lost interest in the Russian party, and surged forward to surround the newcomers, shouting questions. The Chinese soldiers ran forward, led by their captain. “Something has happened,” Nikolai said.

  “Well, now’s our chance to get out of here. Go and fetch the trap.” Rurik hurried off. “Can you tell what they are saying?” Anna asked the butler.

  “Yes, Your Excellency. But...it is unbelievable. The Japanese have forced the Neck!”

  “What?” She did find that unbelievable. “But what of the fort? Did they run out of ammunition?”

  “No, Your Excellency. The Chinese soldiers ran away.” Anna stared at him in consternation. “If the Neck has been taken,” Nikolai said, grimly, “then the town must fall. From the land!”

  The noise was incessant. All around them a war was being waged. Yet the Russian consul’s house and grounds remained untouched. Stray shells had even landed in the woods nearby, but none had struck the house itself. Perhaps Jennie had been right after all, Anna thought, and the Japanese could see the Imperial eagle flying above the trees, and were carefully aiming elsewhere. She half turned her head at the soft tap on her door. “Come,” she said.

  The door closed softly, and the sliver of white crossed the gloom to stand beside the woman at the window. Anna put her arm round her niece, and Patricia rested her head on her shoulder. “My dear girl,” Anna said. “You’re trembling.”

  “I’m so afraid,” Patricia whispered. “Sophie has been telling me that when the Japanese capture Port Arthur they will rape all the women, white or yellow.”

  “Sophie is a very naughty girl,” Anna said severely. “I will have to speak with her.”

  “But suppose it’s true? Oh, Aunt Anna, I don’t want to be raped!”

  Anna gave her another squeeze. “If it happens, remember, only survival matters. Now come to bed.”

  Patricia lay in her arms, her head again on her shoulder.

  “Suppose...suppose you were raped and became pregnant?”

  “In that case, I would recommend an abortion.”

  “Mama was virtually raped by Count Georgei, wasn’t she? And she got pregnant. But she didn’t have an abortion.”

  “Yes, well there are circumstances, and circumstances. The father was, as you say, my brother Count Georgei, not some itinerant Japanese soldier.”

  “You mean, it would be all right to have a bastard by someone like that?”

  Anna suddenly had a very uneasy feeling. “Your mother’s situation was exceptional,” she repeated. “Those days are gone forever.”

  Patricia sat up. “I know. She was forced. But she has told me, that she could have loved Georgei, had he treated her better.”

  “I suppose it is possible.”

  “And she certainly loves Georgei her son.”

  “Well, one would expect a mother to love her eldest son, no matter how he was conceived.” My God, she thought, what am I saying?

  Patricia nestled down again. “Or her daughter,” she said dreamily. “Whichever it turned out to be. Especially if she loves the father, already.”

  Anna dug her fingers into the girl’s hair, so hard that Patricia gave a little squeal of pain. “Who is the father, Patricia?”

  Patricia’s head jerked. “You’re hurting me!”

  “And I shall hurt you more, if you don’t tell me the name of the man.” God, if it were Rurik...

  “I don’t know...”

  “My God! You mean there has been more than one?”

  Anna’s grip having been relaxed, Patricia sat up again. “I meant, I do not know if I am pregnant. I have missed a second period.”

  “What does your mother say?”

  “Mama does not know.”

  “The servants will have told her.”

  “No. Since the Chinese girls left, Sophie and I have been doing our own laundry. Sophie doesn’t know. She doesn’t even think about such things.”

  “And you do,” Anna said grimly. “Now tell me the name of the man.”

  Patricia turned on her knees, to face her aunt in the gloom. “Promise you won’t be angry.”

  “I am sure I am going to be angry. Very angry.” Patricia bit her lip. “Well, promise you won’t tell Mama.”

  Anna held her shoulders. “Trisha, if you are pregnant by so
me servant I am going to have to tell your mother. It will be just as if you had been raped. The baby will have to be aborted.”

  “It was not a servant,” Patricia said, with some dignity.

  Anna’s fingers tightened, and Patricia gave another little moan of pain. “You’re hurting me.”

  “You little vixen,” Anna said. “You seduced my son?”

  “Well,” Patricia said sulkily. “There wasn’t all that much seduction about it.”

  Anna had to admit she was probably right. Duncan might have been totally wrapped up in sport in Boston, but he still had an eye for the ladies. “Does he know?”

  “Well, no. I wanted to ask you about that.”

  “So, no one knows, except you and me,” Anna said.

  “Yes. Will you help me?”

  “Yes.” she said. “If you will obey me, absolutely.”

  “Oh, I will, Aunt Anna. I promise.”

  “Well, then, let it remain a secret, until you miss your next period. This will prove it, one way or the other. If you are not pregnant, then no one will be the wiser about what happened, and...we shall have to see about you and Duncan. If you are pregnant, well, I will tell you what measures need to be taken. Do you agree with this?”

  “Oh, yes, Aunt Anna. Oh, yes.”

  *

  Everyone was subdued. There were no more sumptuous dinners, as Jennie was rationing her own supplies. Indeed, she was ruling her little household like a commanding general defending a fortress. Anna had to admire her true British fortitude and determination not only to do what was right, but what could be seen to be right. For the rest, Sophie was in a state of deep depression, while Patricia was in an almost febrile state of excitement. Georgei was a loyal supporter of his mother in everything, while Duncan remained in a state of seething indignation, compounded when his mother would not let him accompany Georgei up the hill to the forts to find out what was going on.

  He appeared unaware of any consequences of his fling with Patricia. Anna found herself watching them whenever they were together. There was certainly a degree of easy intimacy between them, but nothing more than might have been expected between two young people who were also cousins and who had been thrown together in circumstances which might become quite horrendous. While she...over and above the constant feeling of unreality she had a sense of incipient catastrophe. But in the crowded confines of the Bolugayevski house, which none of the family ever left, it was now seldom even possible for her to get together with Rurik; now she could only possess herself in patience.