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.‘Caroline, what has happened? Alexander came into the drawing-room, kissed the aunts and myself, and hurried from the house—’‘He is fleeing for his life,’ Caroline said bleakly.‘I betrayed him to Grigori, who is at this moment undoubtedly reporting him to Uncle Viktor.’Katya sank into a chair while Caroline told her about the printing press in the cellars, and how she herself had discovered it and attributed it to Grigori.Katya’s face was ashen when Caroline had finished.‘The Czar will have him hunted without mercy,’ she whispered.‘He will be shot—’‘Oh, Katya, forgive me!’ Caroline cried.‘I hadn’t once thought of you in all this! And you are his fiancée—’‘I would have made him forget in time,’ Katya said quietly.‘I would have made him accept, with his heart as well as his mind, that you are his sister.’Caroline hesitated.‘I am not his sister.I told him so before he left the house.I should have told him a long time ago.’‘Not—his sister?’ Katya echoed faintly.Caroline began to recount the story from the beginning.‘I decided that I had to sacrifice my own happiness,’ she concluded, ‘so that Sacha could retain the position he had been brought up to look upon as his right.And it has all been for nothing.Even when I told him the truth at last,’ she added with a wan smile, ‘I did it so badly, and with such poor timing, that he did not believe me.He told me to look at the Antonov portraits in the picture gallery.’Katya gazed at her thoughtfully.‘And have you done so?’‘Not yet—’‘I shall tell you what you will find when you do look, my dear.Nicholas Ivanovich, Count Antonov, who died over thirty years ago, bears a startling resemblance to Alexander.’Caroline shrugged.‘A matter of bearing and expression, no doubt.But remember that Sacha was brought up as an Antonov.He would have absorbed, unconsciously, the aristocratic bearing of the family.’‘It is far more than that,’ Katya contradicted quietly.‘Go and see for yourself.’A wretched sigh escaped Caroline.She might as well look at the portraits.At least while she filled her mind with other matters she could for a time forget that she had betrayed Sacha, and that he was now a fugitive.She left Katya there, and made her way to the gallery where the portraits of the Antonovs hung.A dim, gloomy place, she had never lingered there before, for it had always seemed to her as if the eyes of the long-dead Antonovs were watching her with cruel amusement.Now, she looked for the portrait of Nicholas Ivanovich, and stiffened with incredulity and shock.That particular Count Antonov who had borne the title two generations ago, had had the same small inverted triangle of pure white hair growing among the black which was such a distinctive feature of Sacha’s.Caroline bit her lip.What on earth could explain the fact that the two men, generations apart and unrelated, shared the same birthmark? For it was a birthmark, she knew; Sacha had once told her that the white triangle in his hair had shown itself as soon as his locks lost their baby-gold.There was a possibility, remote and fanciful, that the late Count Antonov had seduced Anna Barovska.But it would be carrying coincidence too far to argue that it just happened to have been their son who was available at the right moment to be exchanged for Euphemia’s dead one.Caroline returned slowly to Sacha’s room, where Katya awaited her.‘I don’t understand it,’ she said.Katya spoke gently.‘My dear, it’s possible that your mother lied to herself as much as to you.By making the son she had abandoned in Russia a changeling—not her own flesh and blood—she could have been easing an otherwise unbearable conscience.’Caroline shook her head.‘That I shall never believe.My mother was without guile.And if Sacha was her own child then nothing on earth would have induced her to leave him behind in Russia.Besides, Anna Barovska confirmed the story my mother told me.She must be able to supply the answer to the birthmark.’Katya sighed.‘Well, it does not seem to be so very important at the moment, with Alexander’s life in danger.I must think how I can best help him ’‘Oh, could you help him?’ Caroline interrupted desperately.‘Of course, you are a connection of the Czarina’s.Could you possibly use your influence with her?’‘My influence does not extend to the Imperial family.’ Katya hesitated.‘My dear, I shall entrust you with a secret, for the time may come when your help will be needed.I am a leading member of the Nihilist movement [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.‘Caroline, what has happened? Alexander came into the drawing-room, kissed the aunts and myself, and hurried from the house—’‘He is fleeing for his life,’ Caroline said bleakly.‘I betrayed him to Grigori, who is at this moment undoubtedly reporting him to Uncle Viktor.’Katya sank into a chair while Caroline told her about the printing press in the cellars, and how she herself had discovered it and attributed it to Grigori.Katya’s face was ashen when Caroline had finished.‘The Czar will have him hunted without mercy,’ she whispered.‘He will be shot—’‘Oh, Katya, forgive me!’ Caroline cried.‘I hadn’t once thought of you in all this! And you are his fiancée—’‘I would have made him forget in time,’ Katya said quietly.‘I would have made him accept, with his heart as well as his mind, that you are his sister.’Caroline hesitated.‘I am not his sister.I told him so before he left the house.I should have told him a long time ago.’‘Not—his sister?’ Katya echoed faintly.Caroline began to recount the story from the beginning.‘I decided that I had to sacrifice my own happiness,’ she concluded, ‘so that Sacha could retain the position he had been brought up to look upon as his right.And it has all been for nothing.Even when I told him the truth at last,’ she added with a wan smile, ‘I did it so badly, and with such poor timing, that he did not believe me.He told me to look at the Antonov portraits in the picture gallery.’Katya gazed at her thoughtfully.‘And have you done so?’‘Not yet—’‘I shall tell you what you will find when you do look, my dear.Nicholas Ivanovich, Count Antonov, who died over thirty years ago, bears a startling resemblance to Alexander.’Caroline shrugged.‘A matter of bearing and expression, no doubt.But remember that Sacha was brought up as an Antonov.He would have absorbed, unconsciously, the aristocratic bearing of the family.’‘It is far more than that,’ Katya contradicted quietly.‘Go and see for yourself.’A wretched sigh escaped Caroline.She might as well look at the portraits.At least while she filled her mind with other matters she could for a time forget that she had betrayed Sacha, and that he was now a fugitive.She left Katya there, and made her way to the gallery where the portraits of the Antonovs hung.A dim, gloomy place, she had never lingered there before, for it had always seemed to her as if the eyes of the long-dead Antonovs were watching her with cruel amusement.Now, she looked for the portrait of Nicholas Ivanovich, and stiffened with incredulity and shock.That particular Count Antonov who had borne the title two generations ago, had had the same small inverted triangle of pure white hair growing among the black which was such a distinctive feature of Sacha’s.Caroline bit her lip.What on earth could explain the fact that the two men, generations apart and unrelated, shared the same birthmark? For it was a birthmark, she knew; Sacha had once told her that the white triangle in his hair had shown itself as soon as his locks lost their baby-gold.There was a possibility, remote and fanciful, that the late Count Antonov had seduced Anna Barovska.But it would be carrying coincidence too far to argue that it just happened to have been their son who was available at the right moment to be exchanged for Euphemia’s dead one.Caroline returned slowly to Sacha’s room, where Katya awaited her.‘I don’t understand it,’ she said.Katya spoke gently.‘My dear, it’s possible that your mother lied to herself as much as to you.By making the son she had abandoned in Russia a changeling—not her own flesh and blood—she could have been easing an otherwise unbearable conscience.’Caroline shook her head.‘That I shall never believe.My mother was without guile.And if Sacha was her own child then nothing on earth would have induced her to leave him behind in Russia.Besides, Anna Barovska confirmed the story my mother told me.She must be able to supply the answer to the birthmark.’Katya sighed.‘Well, it does not seem to be so very important at the moment, with Alexander’s life in danger.I must think how I can best help him ’‘Oh, could you help him?’ Caroline interrupted desperately.‘Of course, you are a connection of the Czarina’s.Could you possibly use your influence with her?’‘My influence does not extend to the Imperial family.’ Katya hesitated.‘My dear, I shall entrust you with a secret, for the time may come when your help will be needed.I am a leading member of the Nihilist movement [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]