From the Dangers of Russia To Love

CHAPTER ONE ~ 1896-1

CHAPTER ONE ~ 1896Alvita walked through the garden thinking that the flowers which were just coming into bloom were what she had waited for in the long and seemingly endless winter.

She was thrilled when they finally appeared in all their glory.

To her flowers were something more romantic than anything else she could ever think of.

As her mother had loved them too, she continued to fill the house with flowers from the attic right down to the cellars.

She wondered now how long it would be before all the rooms in the house were ablaze with flowers that were greatly admired by everyone in the neighbourhood.

“You are the Flower Queen,” one of them had said to her and she had answered,

“I do wish that was true.”

At the same time she knew that flowers made her happy.

They always made her feel that she was living in a Fairyland rather than with all the difficulties and troubles that there had been lately in her family.

Her beloved mother, who was English, had died six months ago.

Her father, who was Russian, almost as if he could not live without her, had died three months later.

Her brother had come into the estate and had left St. Petersburg where he had been enjoying himself with all the pretty flirtatious women.

According to gossip he went to parties every night and he was undoubtedly one of the best looking young men in Court circles.

At that time the stories from St. Petersburg were not particularly happy ones.

But Alvita seldom bothered to read the newspapers now that her father was not there.

She had, in fact, cancelled a great number of them which had come every day into the house, rather than be distressed by the troubles and difficulties which seemed to her to fill every page.

‘So why should I worry about what is happening so many miles away?’ she asked herself frequently.

Looking up at the wonderful pine trees, she thought that she lived in a different world from the one which was experiencing a great deal of trouble and which she did not wish to know about.

She went out into the garden to look at the flowers that she had planted to see if they were doing as well as she expected.

She found that the cold winter had destroyed some of her plantings, but there were many that would soon be in full bloom.

‘I love you,’ she wanted to say to them all. ‘I love you and I want you to be as beautiful this year as you were last year.’

She well remembered how people who had come to commiserate with her because both her mother and father were dead, had instead been overwhelmed by the beauty of the garden and the arrangements of flowers in the house.

They had eventually talked much more about them than her parents, who were no longer with Alvita.

Now, as she was just walking to the far end of the garden, she heard someone drive up to the front door.

She wondered if it was a guest who it was likely to be.

There had been quite a number of people calling in the past few days and she had hoped that today she would be free to be alone and to enjoy the flowers and the clean fresh air in the garden.

Those who came had continually talked about her father and mother and it only upset her when they went on and on making it clearer than it was already that she would never see them again.

She had loved her mother who was very beautiful and at the same time very English.

She had, of course, talked to Alvita of her home in England and how the British were in very many ways so different from the Russians.

Equally, as she had admired her husband so much, she had always praised the Russians and claimed that no men were as romantic or as innovative as the Russians.

Alvita had listened to all this intently.

She had grown up to be very proud of her mother, because she was so beautiful and of her father because he was so intelligent.

She had always hoped that she would inherit both those talents from them.

While doubtful about herself, she was very sure that her brother had done so.

At the age of twenty-seven he was undoubtedly one of the best-looking men she had ever seen.

She could very well understand that while he was so attractive he found his home in the undeveloped part of Russia dull when compared to the excitement and thrill and continued drama that was always taking place in the North of the country.

In fact just recently when Alvita had caught sight of one of the newspapers or heard the people who called on her talking, she worried as there was so much happening in the North of Russia which had not happened in the past.

‘I don’t understand it and I really don’t want to understand it,’ she said to herself. ‘But it is happening and Ivor should come back to his home and not be involved in anything that is demanding and threatening.’

She was just about to go down to the river which ran through the end of the garden, when she heard someone shouting her name.

It was a man and she wondered who it could be and who was calling on her without warning.

Yet, as he only used her Christian name, it must be a close friend.

She turned round and then she could see her brother Ivor coming towards her through the flowerbeds .

It was so unexpected that for a moment she thought that it could not be true.

Then, as he called her again, she gave a cry of sheer delight and ran up the garden towards him.

“You are home! You are home!” she exclaimed, breathlessly as she reached him. “Why did you not tell me you were coming? Oh, Ivor, it’s so exciting to see you.”

“I thought you would be pleased,” he replied. “But as I was not certain until the last moment that I could leave St. Petersburg, I did not have time to tell you.”

“Oh, dearest Ivor, it is so marvellous to see you,” Alvita smiled.

“I thought maybe you would be lonely and felt that the place was empty.”

“Naturally, I felt that,” she answered. “I still cannot believe that Papa will not, at any moment, come out into the garden to look for us.”

She sighed for a moment before she went on,

“But now you are back I very much hope that I will not be alone for a long time.”

“I have come back because I have something to say to you,” Ivor replied. “I think it would be wise if we sat down and I would really like something to drink, as getting here was not only exhausting but overheating.”

Alvita laughed.

“I am sure it was,” she sympathised. “As you know, Mama always advised us, ‘never travel in the middle of the day’.”

“It would have taken too long to stop journeying every day to please the sun. It was important for me to be with you and I have so much to tell you. But first I must quench my thirst.”

“Of course, you must,” Alvita agreed.

They reached the long open French windows that led into the garden.

They stepped into what her mother had called her ‘Reception Room’, which was comfortably and attractively furnished.

Alvita always thought that it was the prettiest room in the house and although when her mother was alive they had kept it more or less for special occasions, she preferred to sit in it than in any other room in the house.

The windows that were large and high looked out onto the garden and the furniture was old and attractive.

Her father and mother had picked it up in various parts of Europe when they were furnishing the house.

Her mother had hung some of her favourite pictures on the walls.

Alvita, now that she and her brother owned them, felt strongly that they should always be specially protected from thieves and robbers.

Also from the friendly admirers who hoped, if they pressed hard enough, to be given something in memory of Alvita’s mother.

Alvita, however, had kept them for herself.

As her brother now sank down into one of the large comfortable armchairs in the room, she said,

“I will tell the servants to bring you a drink. What would you prefer?”

“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “I told them when I came in and they were as surprised to see me as you were.”

He paused for a moment to cough and then he went on,

“But as I have said I had to get to you as quickly as possible and now, as soon as the drink arrives, I will tell you why I am here.”

As he finished speaking, the door then opened and a manservant came in with a tray on which Alvita saw that there was a bottle of wine and a glass.

He put the tray onto the small table beside Ivor’s chair and said,

“It is good to see you, sir, and I know her Ladyship will not feel lonely anymore.”

He was speaking in Russian.

“You are quite right, Boris,” Ivor answered. “But I know that you have looked after her very well and kept her happy.”

“I’ve done my best, sir,” the man replied, “but it is good to have you back.”

He went from the room without waiting for Ivor to say anything more.

As the door then closed behind him, Alvita moved nearer to him saying as she did so,

“What has happened? I know without you telling me that there is a good reason why you have come home so unexpectedly.”

“The reason will be here shortly,” Ivor answered. “He actually came with me from St. Petersburg. He has a house by the mountain and he wants to collect some things from there that we will take with us when we leave.”

Alvita stared at him.

“When we leave,” she repeated. “Are we leaving and if so, why?”

“That is what I have come to tell you.” Ivor replied. “Although it sounds rather frightening, it is something that we have to face.”

Alvita stared at her brother.

“I cannot understand what you are talking about,” she said. “What has happened? What is wrong?”

Ivor glanced briefly over his shoulder as if he was afraid that someone might be listening.

Then he said,

“Czar Nicholas has gone too far! And this time the whole country is rising up against him. In fact a Revolution is starting from here to the very North. As we do not wish to be overwhelmed by it, we have to leave at once.”

Alvita could not believe what she was hearing.

“It cannot be true!” she exclaimed. “Just how could there be a Revolution against our Royal Family and even if there is, why should we be involved?”

Ivor sighed and then very quietly he said,

“It has been going on for a long time. Things have been getting worse and now the whole country is rising against the Czar. It is not safe for you, or indeed for any of us, to stay here.”

His sister was looking at him incredulously.

“Our house will be taken away from us,” he went on. “We will be penniless and, as I am of some importance, I will very likely lose my life.”

“It cannot be true!” Alvita exclaimed. “How could this have happened so suddenly?”

“It is not really suddenly,” he explained. “It started in 1894 when there was more or less a small uprising.”

He stopped for a moment before continuing,

“But it was ignored by those in authority and only now they have to face the consequences of their stupidity and lack of understanding for the people they govern.”

For a long minute Alvita was breathless and then she pointed out,

“But we have never done any harm.”

“We are most unfortunately in the same category as those who have,” Ivor answered. “The Royal Family have been incredibly stupid for the last few years. Now things have gone too far and the country is rising against them.”

He paused before continuing,

“I am afraid a great number of those who consider themselves important will be killed and you and I, and any who are wise and sensible, will leave Russia before they are either killed or imprisoned.”

“You are frightening me,” Alvita said. “But I do remember Papa saying that the Rulers were indifferent to what the people required and never listened to those who warned them that one day they would go too far.”