‘She sent a note telling me she has “private things to discuss” with Sonya and her lawyer.’

  ‘Like how to cope with an annoying grandson and cousin?’ Richard suggested.

  ‘My grandmother doesn’t find me annoying; she adores me, as does Sonya. It’s probably something to do with the fund Father Grigor and Sonya are helping my grandmother set up for the widows and orphans of the cholera and scarlet-fever epidemics. My father’s cook left four young children and the maid was supporting her widowed mother.’ Alexei looked into the casserole dish. ‘This chanakhi looks good. I don’t know what Yelena does to lamb but it tastes so much better than at my grandmother’s house.’

  ‘Don’t let Lyudmila overhear you say that,’ Anna warned.

  ‘If she knew, she’d ask Yelena for her recipe.’ He piled his plate high. ‘A beer house opened down the street today. Anyone want to visit it for a quick drink after dinner?’

  ‘As long as it is quick one, I’m behind with my reading.’ Richard helped himself to a potato pancake.

  ‘Mr Edwards?’ Alexei looked at him.

  ‘I really do have to work.’

  ‘Don’t ask me,’ Sarah pre-empted an invitation from Alexei. ‘I doubt ladies will be welcome there and I have a book, glass of wine, and fire waiting in the drawing room.’

  ‘I have to study. Ruth and Miriam have been coached by Nathan and they know much more than me.’ Anna made room on the table for the dessert tray. ‘Blackcurrant kisel?’

  ‘My mother made it especially for you, Miss Anna,’ Praskovia said. ‘She knows how much you like it.’

  A maid set a bowl of whipped cream on the table and gathered the last of the empty goulash bowls.

  ‘Come on, Richard, eat up.’ Alexei urged.

  ‘You can’t wait to get at the beer, can you?’ Richard helped himself to more meat.

  ‘Not the beer, to see the beer house. We’ve never had one here. Mr Hughes hasn’t just given this place a name, he’s brought civilization here.’

  Glyn caught the look of incredulity in Sarah’s eye and burst out laughing.

  ‘What’s funny?’ Alexei demanded.

  ‘You,’ Glyn wiped his eyes with his handkerchief. ‘You believe a beer house is a sign of civilization.’

  It was only after they left the table that Sarah realized it had been the first time laughter had been heard in the house since Peter and Huw had died.

  Dower House, Beletsky Estate

  March 1871

  Sonya’s eyes rounded in disbelief. ‘I’m rich?’

  ‘Very,’ Catherine confirmed.

  ‘All the times Count Beletsky told me to apply for position as a governess or companion, you never said a word.’

  ‘Because I didn’t know about this bequest until Mr Dmitri confirmed it this morning.’

  ‘The money has been given to me by my father?’

  Mr Dmitri intervened. ‘Perhaps I should explain the situation to Miss Sonya, Mrs Ignatova. As you know, Miss Sonya, your father is an invalid and not expected to leave the hospital in St Petersburg …’

  Catherine blessed her lawyer’s tact and ability to lie. Her brother was a dipsomaniac she’d been forced to confine to an institution for his own protection.

  ‘… The money is family money, Miss Sonya, which is now yours. Should you need advice on your bank account or investments I would be happy to oblige or introduce you to a more qualified person than myself. Although, after looking at the arrangements already made, they appear sound. Is there anything you don’t understand about the annuity or how it is to be paid?’

  ‘No, Mr Dmitri. Thank you for explaining everything.’ Sonya turned to Catherine. ‘Does this mean I have to move out?’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Sonya.’ They were both sitting on the sofa so Catherine hugged her. ‘All it means is that you have your own money, and can buy whatever you want.’

  ‘But you’ve just bought me a new mourning gown.’

  Catherine and Mr Dmitri exchanged glances.

  ‘You can buy a great deal more than a new gown, or even jewels, if you wish, Miss Sonya, but you’ve plenty of time to decide what you want to do with your money.’

  ‘I could invest it in one of Mr Hughes’s enterprises.’

  ‘You could,’ Catherine agreed.

  ‘Or one of the coal mines Alexei and Richard are talking about sinking.’

  ‘My advice to you, Miss Sonya, is don’t do anything in a hurry. Become accustomed to your wealth before spending it.’ Dmitri finished his burgundy and allowed Boris to refill his glass. ‘Once word gets out, and it always does no matter how hard people try to keep financial matters confidential, you’ll have suitors flooding to the door.’

  ‘There’s plenty of time for suitors and marriage,’ Catherine countered.

  Sonya’s thought turned to the only suitor she wanted. Her “secret” love. So secret not even he knew how she felt about him. She suspected that he wouldn’t be swayed by her sudden fortune. She had a peculiar feeling that her money may even make her unattractive in his eyes.

  ‘Can we keep my inheritance a secret?’ she asked, ‘just for a while. I’ll tell Alexei of course, he’s family, but no one else.’

  ‘A good idea, child,’ Catherine endorsed. ‘I’m pleased with the way you’ve taken this news, but I admit, after the way I’ve brought you up I didn’t expect you to react any differently. More wine, Dmitri?’

  Glyn Edwards’ house, Hughesovka

  March 1871

  Sarah was curled in a corner of the enormous sofa, lost deep in her book when Richard gusted in, red faced on a draught of freezing air.

  Sarah marked her page with an envelope. ‘How was the beer house?’

  ‘Bit like the pubs in Merthyr. If anything even more rough and ready.’ He rubbed his hands and examined them. ‘If you visit, take care with the tables and chairs lest you pick up a splinter. The surroundings are what Mr Edward Edwards would have called “primitive”.’

  ‘And the beer?’

  ‘The fermented bread beer, kvass, is too sweet and weak for my taste and the German beer too strong.’

  ‘There’s wine in the carafe and brandy, whisky, and vodka in the decanters if you want a drink.’

  ‘No, thank you, I have to be up early and in what Alexei calls “a happy mood”. I left him talking to a couple of Cossack Officers who’d been ordered to look around the town and report back to the colonel with a list of bars willing to welcome soldiers. It’s the first time any of the regiment have been given leave since they arrived. Their colonel was so concerned about the cholera and scarlet fever he quarantined the garrison.’ He pulled a chair close to the fire.

  ‘A wise precaution on the colonel’s part.’

  ‘Is the scarlet fever epidemic over?’

  ‘It’s too soon to tell.’ She picked up her wine glass.

  ‘And the cholera?’

  ‘Dr Kharber thinks they may be a recurrence in the spring and I agree with him. Anna said your brothers and sisters died of the disease in Merthyr.’

  ‘They did.’ Wanting to change the subject Richard looked around and saw the chess board Glyn had left set up on a side table. ‘Would you like a game of chess, Mrs Edwards?’

  ‘You play?’

  ‘Mr Edward Edwards taught me the moves. I watched Dr Edwards and Mr Edwards play. They were incredible. I’ll never be as good.’

  ‘Dr Edwards used to say all you need to play well is practice. I’m not sure he was right. I practised a lot but never beat him,’ Sarah admitted. ‘But as for playing a game now, it’s been a long day.

  ‘Is Anna in bed?’

  ‘Fast asleep with a book open in her hands when I took her up some warm milk an hour ago; I turned down her lamp.’

  ‘She’s happier than I’ve ever seen her since she’s been working with you.’

  ‘And you?’ Sarah asked seriously.

  ‘Glad to be alive after the cholera. Missing Mr Thomas and Dr Edwards. The house doesn’t seem the same without them.’

  ‘No it doesn’t, Richard.’ She looked at him thoughtfully. ‘Would you tell me the truth if I asked you a question that concerned Mr Edwards and Mr Hughes?’

  ‘If I can. Anna and I owe you and Mr Edwards everything.’

  ‘Are Mr Hughes and Mr Edwards hard taskmasters?’

  ‘You’ve been listening to some of the colliers’ griping.’

  ‘Three of them came in with minor injuries this afternoon, just cuts and bruises and a wrenched thumb, but they behaved as if they were on their deathbeds. They told me they’ll return to Merthyr as soon as the thaw comes and the port opens.’

  ‘They’re idiots. Mr Hughes and Edwards don’t work anyone harder than themselves. Yes, the work isn’t easy, but there’s more opportunity here than Merthyr. I can’t wait to bring my brothers over.’

  ‘You love it here, don’t you?’

  ‘Anna and I have never lived so well. It’s not just the house, the clothes, and the food, Mrs Edwards. It’s having all the books I can read and more to hand, listening to Mr Edwards, your, and Alexei’s conversation. Visiting Mrs Ignatova and hearing Sonya play the piano. Everything is so different from Merthyr, so much better and …’ He suddenly realised he was being disloyal to the way his mother had brought him up.

  ‘I know what you mean about the books and music. I didn’t have access to either when I was growing up.’

  ‘I’m glad you understand. It’s like I’m being shown a whole new world.’

  He looked so young, so eager, so happy, so childlike she couldn’t help but return his smile. She felt the need to give him something – if only a sop. ‘About that game of chess …’

  ‘I’d love one, thank you Mrs Edwards.’ He pushed the table with the board closer to the sofa she was sitting on.

  It was then the thought came to her that if she and Peter’s child had been a boy, she’d have wanted him to be just like Richard.

  Hughesovka and Dower House, Hughesovka

  March 1871

  Alexei saw Mr Dmitri pass in his sleigh when he left the beer house. He checked his pocket watch. It wasn’t quite ten o’clock. He knew his grandmother rarely retired before eleven so he returned to Glyn’s house, saddled Agripin, and rode to the Dower House. He’d steeled himself to tell his grandmother that he’d never loved Praskovia, and although she’d cancelled his dinner invitation he didn’t want to wait a moment longer than necessary to inform her he loved Ruth.

  What he hadn’t expected was to find Sonya with news that was more important than his.

  ‘So my little cousin is going to be hugely wealthy and will have to beat off suitors with sticks.’ Alexei was amazed and pleased. ‘That’s wonderful, Sonya.’

  ‘Thank you, but I haven’t begun to accept my good fortune yet. You’re not to tell a soul.’

  ‘I promise.’

  ‘No one must know other than you, me, Mr Dmitri, and Aunt Catherine.’

  ‘No one will find out from me, but I’d love to be there when my father hears about it.’

  ‘Were you so curious as to why I put you off dining with us this evening that you had to call at this hour, Alexei?’ Catherine asked.

  ‘I have news of my own.’

  ‘About Praskovia?’ Catherine guessed.

  ‘Sort of.’

  Sonya left her chair. ‘I’ll have an early night.’

  ‘What’s going on?’ Catherine grasped Sonya’s hand as she passed her chair.

  ‘Ask Alexei, Aunt Catherine.’ Sonya kissed both of them and left the room.

  ‘I take it Sonya knows what you want to talk about and is being tactful.’

  ‘More like getting out the firing line,’ Alexei amended.

  ‘So what is this “sort of” about you and Praskovia? We all know you love her.’

  ‘I don’t and never have.’

  Catherine recalled all the times she’d seen Alexei and Praskovia huddled together laughing,

  whispering … there’d always been at least one other person hovering in the background and it hadn’t always been Sonya. ‘I’ve been a fool. It’s Ruth Kharber you love, not Praskovia, isn’t it?’

  ‘Sonya told you?’

  ‘No, the only wonder is, I didn’t see it earlier.’

  ‘You’re angry with me?’

  ‘I’m worried for you, Alexei. Being born a Jew is very different to being born a Russian. The Jewish religion is not just a way of worshipping God; it’s a rulebook that lays down how every part of life should be lived. There are laws on what can and can’t be eaten. How to dress, worship, communicate with people – even light candles. Has Ruth told her family about you?’

  ‘Nathan knows.’

  ‘And?’ She waited for a reply that was slow in coming.

  ‘He doesn’t approve.’

  ‘Nathan is talking to you?’ she queried.

  ‘Not about Ruth.’

  ‘How often do you see her?’

  ‘You’re wondering if it’s the thrill of forbidden fruit I’m in love with, not Ruth.’

  ‘To be frank, yes.’

  ‘I’ve loved her since I was thirteen years old, Grandmother.’

  ‘Men grow out of their childish passions.’

  ‘What I feel for Ruth is not a childish passion.’

  ‘How often do you see her?’ she reiterated.

  ‘When I was in school in East Prussia, hardly ever, but we wrote to one another under cover of Sonya’s letters. Since my return, not as frequently as we wished but when she nursed the cholera patients in the Beletsky Mansion, it was every day. Now with Sonya and Mrs Edwards working in the hospital I have an excuse to call in there but Nathan takes care to ensure Ruth’s rarely alone.’

  ‘If you saw so little of Ruth before the cholera outbreak, I have to wonder how serious you are. Does she want to marry you?’

  ‘She’s worried about her family and the people in the shtetl, but she loves me. She wants to marry me. She just doesn’t believe it’s possible.’

  ‘I share her concern. You’re both very young. You’re nineteen, she’s what? Sixteen?’

  ‘Seventeen, and I’m almost twenty. Age has nothing to do with love, Grandmother.’

  ‘As I used to say to your poor mother, you were born old. Even as a baby you knew what you wanted and did everything in your power to get it. This time I believe you’ve overreached yourself. However, if Nathan is prepared to talk to you we must invite him and Ruth here. I would say for dinner but I know they have rules about eating in Christian houses. If they come for afternoon tea or supper I’ll order wine, sandwiches, fruit, and cake to be served. No pork or ham, but I think they can eat chicken.’

  ‘I thought you’d be angry.’

  ‘I’m not your father, Alexei. I don’t anger easily. You’re absolutely sure of your feelings for Ruth?’

  ‘I wouldn’t have spoken to you if I wasn’t.’

  ‘You’re not just excited by the knowledge that you’ll be shocking both your families not to mention every, Jew, Christian, and Cossack for miles?’

  ‘I love Ruth, Grandmother, more than anyone else in this world.’

  ‘I hope you do, because if you marry, you’ll have to be everything to one another. The Russians will never receive her. The Cossacks will hate both of you for what they’ll see as your betrayal as a Russian. The aristocrats will believe you’ve sullied your class and the Jews will cast Ruth out, unless …’ she looked at him. ‘You’re not thinking of converting?’

  ‘I considered it, but Ruth said the community would never accept me.’

  ‘You’d have had to be circumcised.’

  He made a wry face. ‘I know.’

  ‘At least Ruth is being realistic about her people’s reaction.’

  ‘We’re not asking for acceptance. We know we won’t get it outside of Mr Hughes’s employees. But I’m earning enough to support a wife and her religion won’t make any difference to the way my colleagues will think of her or me. Mr Hughes intends to build houses for his managers. As soon as he does, I’ll borrow money from the company to buy one and we’ll marry.’

  ‘You’re forgetting your age.’

  ‘Father’s disowned me, I don’t need anyone’s formal consent. Ruth is over sixteen. She would like her brother’s blessing, I would like yours, but if we have to, we’ll do without.’ Alexei moved to a chair. ‘I talked to Father Grigor in confidence after mass last week. He said if you and Nathan agree and attend the ceremony he’ll marry us.’

  ‘If we don’t?’

  ‘I’ll try to persuade Father Grigor to reconsider his stipulation that you and Nathan be present.’

  ‘Ruth was brought up by her uncle and aunt after her parents’ death, wasn’t she?’

  ‘Yes, but first I think we should just invite Nathan and Ruth here.’

  ‘And hope that their visit will open a discussion between both families.’

  ‘I can imagine what the discussion would be if my father were here.’

  ‘The least said about him, the better.’ Catherine glanced at the clock. ‘Have you talked to Sonya about Ruth?’

  ‘She knows we want to marry.’

  ‘Has she seen Misha?’

  ‘I don’t think so. The Cossacks have been confined to barracks since the cholera and scarlet fever outbreaks. Why do you ask?’

  ‘Something Sonya said about you and Misha.’

  ‘If she told you we quarrelled about the Cossacks attitude towards the Jews, we did.’

  ‘You can’t fight centuries of prejudice by arguing with a childhood friend, Alexei,’ she warned. ‘That’s another reason for you to reconsider your relationship with Ruth.’

  ‘Believe me, I’ve done all the considering that needs to be done, Grandmother.’

  Chapter Four

  Hospital complex, Hughesovka

  March 1871

  Alexei crouched low below the beams of the oil lamps as he turned the corner to face the staff apartments behind the main building. He crawled to the last window on the left and made a dove call. When there was no response, he reached up and tapped the glass.

  ‘If you want to see my sister, Alexei, I suggest you visit during daylight hours.’ Nathan was standing over him.

 

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