Anne frowned. ‘I can’t think why Boney should want to conquer Spain. From my geography lessons, I learnt that it was just a trackless wilderness.’
Basil Andreyevitch shrugged. ‘So it is – but it’s the last piece of Europe he doesn’t control, and naturally any conqueror worth his salt will not be satisfied with less than everything. He can’t move north, because Russia stops him, and so he must move south.’
‘Well, at least he is leaving England alone,’ Anne said.
Tchaikovsky smiled. ‘But will England leave him alone? Your country has already sent an army to Portugal, and rescued the Spanish royal family from under Murat’s nose. Napoleon won’t like that piece of interference.’
‘Portugal is our oldest ally,’ Anne said.
‘And Lisbon is the only port in Europe open to English ships, now that we have been obliged to fall in with Napoleon’s embargo,’ Tchaikovsky said. ‘He means to starve England into submission.’
‘He won’t do that.’
‘No, I don’t think he will,’ Tchaikovsky said thoughtfully. ‘From what I hear, the embargo is causing as much hardship in France as it’s meant to cause in England. It cuts both ways, you know. There’s all sorts of things that can’t be got except in English ships – coffee, sugar, spices. I shouldn’t be surprised if the embargo doesn’t bring down the alliance between us and France in the end. I don’t think the Tsar was ever too keen on it, and if the Imperial Court can’t get its little luxuries, life in Petersburg will be hardly worth living.’
‘You think Russia will change sides again – ally with England?’
‘It seems more natural somehow. And I don’t see how anyone can trust a man like Napoleon. He won’t be satisfied until he rules the whole world.’
‘Including Russia?’ Anne said innocently.
‘No one can conquer Russia,’ Tchaikovsky said airily. ‘No one would be fool enough to try.’ He looked sideways at her. ‘Come, that’s better – you actually smiled then!’
‘I see now why you think England and Russia are natural allies – both countries have that same belief that they cannot possibly be conquered.’
‘You speak as though you belonged to neither.’
‘In a way, I don’t. I belonged entirely to England for most of my life; now I am half-way between England and Russia, I seem to be without a country.’
He looked at her with keen sympathy. ‘Move closer to Russia, then. Become wholly Russian.’
‘I don’t know if that’s possible,’ she said.
‘There is a way.’
He reached across the space between them and touched her hand, and she looked at him, startled at the tone of his voice.
‘What – what do you mean?’
‘Is it so hard to guess? Have I not made my feelings clear to you these last weeks?’ he said gently. ‘Please, don’t speak yet – let me finish! I know that you are deeply grieved by the poor little girl’s death, and I would not have spoken, except that I can’t help feeling you need comforting – a special sort of comforting, that can only be given by someone closer than a mere friend.’
‘You have been everything that is kind -1 am truly grateful for all your attentions to me–’
‘It wasn’t kindness, Anna Petrovna!’
‘Yes, it was,’ she said hastily.
‘Well, if you insist – only in that case, let me be kinder still. Will you marry me?’
Despite her recent observations, she was still taken by surprise, so much so that she could not find any words to answer him.
‘You look surprised – but surely you must have known what was in my mind?’
‘I – I didn’t think about it. I thought–’
‘You thought I was only flirting with you?’ he said with a hint of reproach. ‘Am I such a scoundrel in your eyes?’
‘No – indeed not. I didn’t think that.’
‘Well, then? We have been friends for many years, have we not? I have grown to admire you more than anyone I have ever met. But lately, it has become more than that. I will confess to you -1 came to Pyatigorsk on purpose to ask you to marry me.’
‘Oh, surely not!’ she protested at such an extravagant idea. ‘You could not have known I was here.’
‘To be sure I did! News travels faster here than in the north, where there’s little else to talk about. I have told you that my uncle’s death leaves me independent. I’ve remained unmarried all these years, despite my parents’ pleadings, because I didn’t want the sort of wife they wanted for me. But now I’m independent, I can choose for myself. That’s why I came here.’
Still she looked unbelieving. ‘But why me? How can you possibly want to marry me?’
‘I want an intelligent wife.’ He spread his hands in a disarming gesture of honesty. ‘I’ve long had the reputation of leading intellectual society – yes, and I know you’ve laughed at me secretly. Well, I want to do in fact what I’ve already done in reputation. With you as my wife, I can do it. We shall have a salon: all the great thinkers, the writers, the reformists – artists and musicians, too – they will all come. We’ll be famous. We’ll go down in history – more than that, we’ll make history!’
Anne tried to stem the torrent of his enthusiasm. ‘You do me too much honour! I’m no intellectual – I’m an English governess. I am far beneath your touch.’
‘Don’t say that!’ His pale eyes glowed with fervour. ‘I won’t allow anyone to say you are beneath me. You are gently bom, and better educated even than most men. Besides that, you have something else that makes you worth ten of every other woman in Russia. I don’t know what to call it, except intelligence, but it isn’t only that.’
He held out his hand to her. ‘Anna Petrovna, listen to me! I came to Pyatigorsk in all arrogance to ask you to marry me, thinking you would jump at the offer – for I can offer you security, position, rank, fortune, all those things. But meeting you again after so long, I remembered what you were really like. Now I ask not as one conferring a favour, but as one asking it. You are by far my superior in everything that matters – I know that! But I do sincerely love you, and I will try with all my heart to make you happy, if you will honour me with your hand.’
She looked at him with sad astonishment; flattered by his preference, touched by his offer, unhappy that she must be the cause of wounding him.
‘I can’t tell you how grateful I am for your good opinion,’ she began, but he interrupted her.
‘I don’t want your gratitude! I can see from your face that you mean to refuse me – but please, won’t you take a little time to consider? I don’t need your answer this minute! You are not yourself, you are still in mourning. Wait, please wait, until you are calmer, and think about it. There is a great deal I can offer you.’
‘I know that. I am honoured to be your choice, Basil Andreyevitch. Any woman would be.’
‘You didn’t used to think so,’ he said wryly. ‘You used to laugh at me.’
‘No one could laugh at such generous feelings as you have expressed,’ she said seriously.
‘Well, then, what is the impediment?’ he asked anxiously.
She hesitated, and then said as gently as possible, ‘I don’t love you.’
His face cleared. ‘Oh, is that all? Don’t refuse me on that account. We have been good friends these last two weeks, have we not? You don’t dislike me?’
‘No, of course not – but–’
‘Then it’s all right. People can be very happily married with no more than liking. Half the married people in Russia no more than tolerate each other.’
‘I should not wish you to have so little in return for all you offer,’ she said.
‘Well, I would settle for it. And love will probably follow in time. Please, Anna Petrovna, say you will think about it.’