Anne looked into Lolya’s wide brown eyes and read there an absolute innocence. She really had no notion of the dark streams of conflict that had run below the calm surface of her life. How Vera Borisova had received the news of Irina’s death Anne had no way of knowing, but having seen some of the new coolness between Kirov and his mother, she could guess that the Dowager must have allowed her triumph to show – whether by accident or design.
At all events, she had hastened to offer her services for Lolya’s coming-out, and lest her offer be refused, had followed her letter to Petersburg in person too closely for a reply of any sort even to have been thought out. Thus she had achieved her life’s ambition, of being intimately involved in Lolya’s undeniable social success. The one taste of gall in her honey had been Anne’s presence in Petersburg: she must have hoped, poor creature, to have left her behind in Moscow!
‘And what was it you wanted me to do for you? Am I going to regret deeply that I didn’t tell Mikhailo I was not at home?’ Lolya grinned impulsively. ‘You couldn’t be not at home to me, darling Anna! And I know you must be very busy, and I’m sorry to disturb you, but you know Pinky can do everything for you just as well, and you’d be sorry to miss it, really you would.’
‘Miss what?’
‘The review at the Winter Palace, of course! Only do hurry, or we won’t get a good place. We can go in your new calfeche, can’t we? It’s so very smart, and Varvara Salkina is bound to be there, and I want her to see me riding in it.’
‘Is that the only reason you have come disturbing me, you monkey? Just to ride in my carriage?’
‘Oh no!’ Lolya said, round-eyed. ‘I must have you with me, because it wouldn’t be at all proper for me to go to a review with only Sophie. She’s so young and silly,’ she added sotto voce, ‘and I must have an older woman with me to give me credit.’
‘Thank you,’ Anne said. ‘It’s good to know I can still be useful in my dotage.’
Lolya stroked Anne’s arm wheedlingly. ‘But you’ll enjoy it, Anna, you know you will! There’s a whole regiment parading today, and they’re marching off to the border, so it’s our patriotic duty to go and cheer, and they’ll look so splendid!’
At that moment Miss Penkridge appeared on the staircase. ‘Excuse me, my lady, but should I–’ she began, as if she had come seeking Anne’s guidance on some point, but Anne saw through her. In the few weeks that Lolya had had the run of Anne’s household, she had wound every member of the staff around her pretty fingers. Miss Penkridge’s granite face was as soft as blancmange as her eyes crept irresistibly from her mistress’s face towards Lolya’s. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were engaged.’
‘Darling Pinky,’ Lolya said, going up two stairs to kiss her cheek.. ‘I’m so glad to see you! Won’t you help me persuade Anna Petrovna she ought to go out and get some fresh air?’
‘It isn’t my place, my lady–’ Miss Penkridge began. Anne watched the manoeuvring with fascination. Anyone who could call the forbidding Miss Penkridge ‘Pinky’ and kiss her into submission was a force to be reckoned with. She foresaw a great future for Lolya; if only she had been born male instead of female she could have been a politician or a great general.
‘But you can tell her,’ Lolya went on persuasively, ‘that you can manage without her, can’t you? You can do all the preparations for tomorrow, can’t you?’
‘Of course, my lady. Her ladyship knows she can safely leave everything with me,’ Penkridge said stoutly.
‘There you are, you see!’ Lolya said triumphantly. ‘So do come, darling Anna! And put on your new hat, the one with the marabou trimming, because you look so lovely in it, and I want everyone to see how smart you are!’
Anne saw she could not win. ‘Very well. I suppose I had better come with you, or you’ll do something dreadful, and I shall feel guilty. Come upstairs with me, while I get ready.’
‘Thank you! You can go home, now, Sophie. Madame Tchaikovsky will send me home in her carriage so I shall be quite safe.’
She followed Anne upstairs, chattering. ‘I do like your house, Anna, much more than ours. Ours is so stuffy! I know it wouldn’t have been proper to redecorate while we were in mourning, but there couldn’t be any objection now, could there? I don’t know why Papa won’t let me order new drapes, at least. I saw the most gorgeous material in Zubin’s the other day – cloth of gold, covered with peacocks and birds of paradise! You can’t think how lovely! I described it to Papa and said it would be the very thing for the state drawing-room, but he only pretended to shudder and said I had taste to match my age. What d’you think he meant by that? But I think he just didn’t want to spend the money,’ she went on without waiting for an answer. ‘He’s got awfully mean since Mamochka died. He wouldn’t even buy a new barouche for the Season, though ours is shockingly old. He said it would “do” for another year. I hate things to have to “do” – and so does Gran’mère. Why, she won’t wear an evening gown more than twice – she gives them away to her maids to do over, once the trimming had been taken off. I heard Madame Kurakina say that Gran’mère had the best-dressed servants in Russia.’
Anne smiled. ‘I don’t think she meant that as a compliment, darling.’
‘Oh,’ said Lolya blankly, stopped in mid-flight. Her mind hopped to another subject. ‘How is your darling baby? I do think she’s the sweetest creature in the world! Would I have time to run up and see her, do you think, while you’re putting on your hat?’
‘No, love, you wouldn’t. But in any case, she’s out of the house at the moment. We can go and see her afterwards, if you like. Basil Andreyevitch and Jean-Luc have taken her out on a sledge into the garden. They spent all yesterday building a toboggan slope for her.’
Lolya cocked her head a little, quick to hear the undertone in Anne’s voice.
‘You don’t like Jean-Luc, do you? But he’s such fun, Anna, and you must admit he loves Rose! You aren’t worried it will be dangerous for her, are you?’
‘Oh no – it’s a very gentle slope. Grubernik said she ought to go out more, and have gentle exercise. This was Jean-Luc’s idea. They mean to take her out in the troika tomorrow, along the river to the fortress and back.’
‘Oh, she’ll like that! Is Jean-Luc coming to the ball tomorrow? Will he come dressed as a woman, the way he did to the rout at Countess Edling’s? Oh, it was so funny when she discovered he was really a man and didn’t know whether to have him thrown out or not! I laughed so much I thought I should choke, though Gran’mère didn’t like it, and said it was an insult to the Empress-Dowager. Though what she had to do with it I don’t know, because she wasn’t even there.’
‘Countess Edling is her lady-in-waiting.’
‘I know, but it isn’t as if it were meant to insult her. It was just a piece of fun! Oh, don’t look so disapproving, Anna dear! I depend on you not to be like Gran’mère, who thinks anything jolly must be improper.’
Anne pulled herself together. ‘I don’t think that, love. I suppose there’s no real harm in Jean-Luc. It’s just that I see so much of him, the jest wears thin sometimes. Now, tell me what you’re going to wear tomorrow,’ she added, firmly changing the subject. Lolya at once launched into a passionate description of mousseline de soie and spider-gauze, crystal spars and spangled scarves, which left Anne free to pursue her own thoughts.