To Kill a Tsar (37 page)

‘What?’ she asked irritably, the colour rising to her cheeks. ‘You don’t understand, Anna. It’s not my sister . . .’ She opened her mouth as if ready to say more then she closed it firmly and turned with a scowl to hide her pain.

28 OCTOBER 1880

T
hey told Hadfield not to go. His aunt was concerned it would be too much for him and both Dobson and Colonel Gonne of the embassy were of the view it would be foolish to be seen in court.

‘You will only remind the terrorists of your existence. They might make another attempt on your life,’ Dobson had told him.

‘In court?’

The correspondent had hesitated before suggesting quietly that it would be wise not to show too great an interest in their fate. But Hadfield went anyway.

The gendarmes had thrown a tight cordon round the building on Liteiny Prospekt and were permitting only those with a pass from the Ministry of Justice to enter. Hadfield had twisted Dobson’s arm to arrange one for him, and they had gone together on the third day of the trial. It was a grey morning in late October, with the bitter promise of winter in the air, and both he and Dobson were grateful for the warmth and light of the crowded courtroom. Spare, whitewashed and panelled in dark oak, it was an almost perfect square with three floor-to-ceiling windows before which the judges were seated at a low table. To their left, the prisoners’ dock, to their right, distinguished guests of the court and the gentlemen of the press, and the public were in a gallery of seats opposite. A full-length portrait
of the emperor hung in one corner beneath burgundy and gold drapes. The prisoners – sixteen in number – were brought in under guard, and gendarmes in spiked helmets were posted at either end of the dock and at all the doors of the court. The prisoners were dressed smartly in academic black, but their faces were a sickly prison grey, starved of light and nourishment.

Evgenia Figner glanced over to the public gallery from time to time, but although she must have seen him, she was too clever to show it. She sat at the front of the dock with a look of cool defiance that reminded him of Vera, her features thinner and finer than the last time he had seen her, dark hair tidily arranged in a chignon. The defendants were accused of writing and distributing inflammatory propaganda, and Alexander Kviatkovsky and two other men faced the more serious charge of plotting the explosion at the Winter Palace.

‘All sixteen will be convicted,’ Dobson had told him. Apart from Goldenberg’s testimony, read by a clerk with the lugubrious voice of an undertaker, there was plenty of supporting evidence – dynamite, a plan of the palace, false papers and the party’s pamphlets – presented to the court on a table before the judges. At best the defence attorneys were lacklustre, at worse incompetent, as if tacitly acknowledging it to be an open and shut case. From time to time there was mention of those still at liberty – Mikhailov, Zhelyabov, Perovskaya and a woman called Anna Kovalenko.

‘Did you see Special Investigator Dobrshinsky?’ Dobson asked when the court adjourned at lunchtime. ‘He kept glancing over at us. He’s sitting over there, to the right of the judges.’

‘No doubt a satisfied man.’

‘Not until he’s got the lot of them.’

‘He’ll never manage that, George,’ Hadfield replied with a weak smile, ‘not until Russia changes. Have you read the latest reports of famine in the south?’

Dobson’s face crumpled into a pained expression. ‘You may be right but really, is it sensible to say so here?’

When the proceedings resumed, Hadfield looked and found the special investigator seated beneath his imperial master, his face as drawn and grey as the prisoners’. He was careful to avoid catching his eye. The afternoon began with a fiery speech from Alexander Kviatkovsky justifying the party’s ‘red terror’ as the only course open to those who believed in democracy and socialism. He was from a good family, he spoke well, and Hadfield was stirred by his passion and conviction but struck too by the futile waste of a young man who would almost certainly lose his life on the scaffold. As for the others, they would be sentenced to penal servitude for life for talking and writing of democracy, calling for the overthrow of a despot. Their heads would be shaven, they would be marched from the St Peter and St Paul Fortress to the station, and from there to Kara in the frozen east. And in time, he knew, this would happen to Anna too.

‘All rise.’

The tinkle of a hand bell signalled the end of the court day. The judges were escorted from the room followed by the accused, almost lost within a phalanx of sky-blue uniforms. As the last was leaving, the special investigator slipped between chairs and walked across the courtroom towards him.

‘I’m glad you’ve recovered from your injuries in time to see justice done, Doctor.’

Hadfield acknowledged him with a curt nod.

‘Mr Dobson.’ Dobrshinsky offered the correspondent his hand. ‘I hope you’re taking precautions,’ he said, turning to Hadfield again. ‘I can’t rule out the possibility of another attempt on your life.’

‘I’m careful,’ Hadfield replied quietly.

‘A terrible shock, really. You heard, I’m sure: the student was sentenced to twenty years. We’re still searching for his
accomplices.’ Dobrshinsky paused then added, ‘and Anna Kovalenko, of course.’

Hadfield leant forward a little to peer at him with scientific interest, a frown of concentration between his eyes.

‘You’ll be relieved to learn that our sources suggest she is in Kiev,’ said Dobrshinsky. ‘You may be safe for a little longer.’

Hadfield was careful to let nothing in his expression suggest this jibe had found its mark. His eyes did not flicker from the special investigator’s face. Two seconds, three, four. Dobson cleared his throat nervously to break the silence.

‘Are you quite well, Doctor?’ Dobrshinsky did not attempt to disguise his irritation. Hadfield stared intently at him for a few seconds more, lifting his fingers to his lips as if wrestling with a particularly vexing problem. Then he turned abruptly to Dobson: ‘George, you must excuse us. There is something I have to discuss with the collegiate councillor in confidence.’

The correspondent was quite taken aback, but after a moment’s hesitation he nodded and took a few steps towards the door. The courtroom was empty but for the clerks gliding across the polished floor, tidying testimony and evidence from the tables.

‘Well, Doctor?’ Dobrshinsky asked when they were out of earshot. ‘How can I help you?’

‘Collegiate Councillor, it is a question of what I can do for you.’

‘Oh?’ Dobrshinsky raised his eyebrows quizzically. ‘Do you have information that might be of use to our investigation?’

‘No, no,’ Hadfield said with a brusque shake of the head. ‘In a professional capacity – as a doctor. You see, I have some experience of treating men with your problem – insomnia, stomach pain, a certain weakness of the body, loss of breath – it is a most pernicious habit.’

Dobrshinsky’s face tightened in an angry frown, the colour rising for once to his sallow cheeks. After a few cold seconds,
he said: ‘I can’t imagine what you’re referring to, Doctor.’ He leant a little closer and Hadfield could smell the sickly sweetness of his breath and feel it against his cheek. ‘Are you trying to blackmail me?’

‘To treat you.’

There was an intensely hostile gleam in the special investigator’s eye. ‘Be careful, Doctor. The days are shorter. You may not be fortunate enough to escape a second time.’ He brushed past Hadfield and – ignoring Dobson – stalked out of the courtroom.

Society had twittered with the story of the handsome young English doctor beaten to within an inch of his life by terrorists. So fearless, so determined to bring His Majesty’s enemies to justice, an innocent victim who had treated the wounded after the explosion at the palace. General Glen had given a party to celebrate his recovery, anointing him beneath the martial portrait of his great-grandfather, reading a message of sympathy and gratitude from the emperor. His aunt had tried to persuade him to move from the island to a larger apartment – ‘You can afford it. Everyone wants to claim you as their physician.’ And yes, he had found himself in the enviable position of having to turn patients away. But he refused to consider a change of address. If anything, he spent more evenings at home, and he had invested a little money in pictures and some furniture to stamp something of himself on the apartment. There were still society engagements on the embankment and at the embassy, evenings with Dobson and at the houses of rich patients, but more often than not he preferred his own company.

It was late one evening and he was sitting in his shirt sleeves before the fire with a book as usual when there was a knock at the door. The dvornik always thumped with the fleshy part of his fist and this was a lighter hand. To be sure, he picked
up the small revolver his uncle had given him after the attack and held it to his side.

‘Who is it?’

‘An old friend from Zurich,’ came the muffled reply.

‘Come in then, old friend.’ He opened the door and kissed Vera Figner warmly on both cheeks.

‘Who else were you expecting?’ she asked, pointedly looking down at the gun.

‘I thought you would know.’

Vera frowned and reached out to rest her small hand lightly on his sleeve: ‘What are you talking about, Frederick?’

They were still standing in his hall, Vera in her hat and dark grey cloak. ‘I’m sorry. Come and sit beside the fire,’ he said, and he led her into the drawing room and helped her from her things.

‘Did Sergei the dvornik see you? It’s not safe for you here.’

But Vera had been watching the house for some time and had waited until Sergei had stumbled off in the direction of the tavern on Bolshoy Prospekt.

‘You look thinner, Frederick,’ she said, examining him with a clinical eye. ‘How long has it been? More than a year, and so much has happened in that time.’

So she knew nothing of the attempt on his life. He was relieved. ‘What has happened, Vera? We are still waiting for your revolution.’

She gave him a disdainful pitying look of the kind that only one full of perfect certainty is capable of giving. ‘I don’t want to argue with you, Frederick,’ she said, ‘especially when you’ve been so kind. Was it difficult to get tickets for the trial? I knew you would manage it.’

‘A little. Your note was a surprise after such a long time,’ he said with a wry smile.

‘I want you to tell me what you saw, what you heard: Evgenia – how is she?’ Vera’s tone was clipped and matter-of-fact, as if
the fate of her sister was no more important than the day’s grocery order.

Hadfield studied her for a moment then rose without speaking and stepped over to the drinks tray. ‘Can I pour you something?’

She nodded.

He poured a little brandy into two glasses, placed one on the table at her side and returned to his chair with his own.

‘Well?’ she asked impatiently.

‘Evgenia looked a little grey but defiant, of course.’

‘And the others?’

For half an hour he answered her questions, describing the proceedings and the evidence in the smallest detail. And he told her of Alexander Kviatkovsky’s passionate words denouncing tsarist tyranny and his determined justification of terror as the only course open to the people. As he spoke her expression began to soften, a small affectionate smile, a twinkle of pride, and soon all the questions were of Kviatkovsky. And when he had told her all he could, she sat back in her chair with a heartfelt sigh.

‘He means a lot to you?’

‘Yes.’

They sat in silence for a while, Vera avoiding his gaze, turning her glass on the arm of the chair. She looked lovely in the firelight, calm, even a little severe, and his heart went out to her because he could sense her quiet pain.

‘Is Anna safe?’ He had to ask the question.

She looked up in surprise. ‘Anna Kovalenko?’

‘Didn’t you know we were close?’

‘No. I didn’t. How peculiar.’

‘How so, peculiar?’

She hesitated, searching carefully for her words. ‘You’re very different. Anna is so committed to our cause – and you’re from such different families . . .’

He smiled sardonically. ‘The provincial aristocrat speaks, and I thought you were of the people now.’

Vera flushed angrily. ‘She is a good comrade. You’re very different, that’s all I was trying to say.’

‘And you have no idea if she knew of the attempt to murder me?’

Vera frowned and leant forward, her small hands clasped tightly together. ‘You should explain now, Frederick. Who tried to kill you?’

‘The People’s Will.’

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said with a cross shake of her head. ‘This is some sort of delusion.’

‘Oh, Vera,’ said Hadfield with a mirthless laugh. ‘I’ve suffered from delusions, but sadly this is not one of them.’ And he explained to her what had happened. ‘The student was taken. He told his interrogator I was to be executed as an informer.’

Vera listened with a pensive frown, perched at the edge of her chair, her gaze bent to the floor. Suddenly, snatching at her skirt, she rose abruptly from the chair. ‘I must go. Where’s my coat?’

He stared at her, confused by the cold determination in her face, then he stood up slowly and took a step towards her.

‘I shouldn’t have come here.’ Her face and neck were pink, her shoulders twitching a little with barely repressed anger: ‘The party will have had its reasons.’

‘No, Vera. Weren’t you listening?’ He was struggling to control his temper. ‘Your comrades tried to murder me.’

‘There is always a reason,’ she said. ‘You were an enemy of the people and that is enough.’

‘Weren’t you listening to me? Where is the woman who used to make up her own mind?’ He was trembling with fury now.

‘If you don’t give me my coat, I’ll leave without it,’ she said with icy resolution. He stared at her for a few seconds – she would not look him in the eye – then he said, ‘I must check the stairs and the street first.’

They did not speak again until he had shown her safely from the house. But at the bottom of the street, close to where he had been set upon, she turned to him with a softer expression and, after a little hesitation, she said: ‘I don’t think she would have known, Frederick. Really, I don’t think Anna would have known.’