Michael Cox (49 page)

II
Letters from Colonel and Mrs Tadeusz Zaluski to the Late Lord Tansor

MARCH 1855–MARCH 1856

LETTER 7

Mrs Emily Zaluski to Lord Tansor

Hotel de la Poste
Langestrasse
Toeplitz

24th March 1855
MY LORD,—
All is accomplished. I am married, as of yesterday.
Herr Drexler was as good as his word. The documents had been drawn up exactly as required, the officials made content, the priest (pastor, rather) was waiting in the appointed place ready to attend us at the stated time.
The ring I had brought with me looked very well, & was much admired by the impromptu congregation of village onlookers. Afterwards, we gave a little dinner at the hotel by way of celebration, to which we had invited the priest & a Belgian cloth-merchant & his wife, whom we had earlier recruited as witnesses. (I concocted a fine story that I had fled England, & the severe displeasure of a prejudiced father, to marry my dashing colonel – who, luckily, still has something of a dash about him. Mme Cloth-Merchant fairly swooned at the romantic daring of it all.)
So all is well, and we are set fair for the next – and most important – part of our adventure.
Only one thing has happened to check the relief I feel, and it is this.
Before we left Franzenbad, after the disappearance of Conrad and his dreadful mother, we received the following epistle, which I here transcribe in all its literary glory:
MADAM,—
Well you have shown yr true colours in seeking to bring down some one who has done you nothing but good & faithful service since leaving England. The girl came to no harm and Conrad as I told you he would be is truly sorry for what he did – but that is nothing to you I see – for you have always disliked Conrad & have never given me my due either for what I have done on yr behalf.
It wd have mattered not a jot to let Conrad be and say nothing – I wd have made certain no such thing happened again while we were in yr service – but you wished only to be rid of us I see – & wanted any excuse to do so – and so you were ready to denownce my poor boy – who deserves yr pity rather than what you are disposed in yr pride to give him, wch is to say contemt.
Well Madam the police shall not have him – I shall find him before they do I can assure you – and by tomorrow we shall be beyond their reach – aye and
yours too
.
But do not think Madam that I shall forget – I know yr secrets & have them safe in my head. You think you are rid of me for ever – but you are not. Time is my friend.
Look for me
.
Until we meet again—
B.K.
A charming communication, I think you will agree. I had never trusted Mrs K, and she has shown herself to be both disloyal and vicious. I am most dreadfully sorry that the estimation of the noble friend who recommended her to you, regarding her character, has proved so utterly erroneous, tho’ of course no blame whatsoever can attach to yr Ldship for the woman’s disgraceful behaviour towards us.
The threat so clearly implied in Mrs K’s letter, however, is of great concern to me. I have been as careful as I can not to reveal too much of our business to her; but she knows enough by now (and perhaps can guess more) to make her threat a serious one. Yr Ldship will know better than I how we might prepare ourselves against her. Perhaps we might seek the confidential advice of Mr A.V., who has already proved himself most helpful to us in the present enterprise.
On another matter, my husband – there! I have written the word, for the first time – has been told of a house in Ossegg that appears most suitable for our purposes. We hope to secure it for six months before removing to Dux, and then to Prague for Christmas. I am, I own, happy to think that I shall have somewhere to call home once again, if only for a short time, & although it can never be home in the true sense, for that will always be Evenwood, that ever-blessed haven from the world.
Our immediate task is to find new servants – Tadeusz has just gone out for this purpose. I shall write again with our new address as soon as I know it.
Until then, I am, ever yr loving, & signing myself for the first time,
E. ZALUSKI

LETTER 8

Colonel Tadeusz Zaluski to Lord Tansor

[ Postmarked Ossegg, 16th September 1855]
MY LORD,—
It is with the most heartfelt satisfaction that I write to your Lordship to inform you that my dear wife gave birth to a fine healthy son, at a little after half past four yesterday morning, just as the sun was beginning to rise. We intend to call him Perseus Verney, and hope that this will meet with your Lordship’s approval.
My wife is resting now, as the physician has instructed, and as she deserves, and I have come downstairs, at her earnest request, to write this letter to your Lordship so that it can be sent by the next available coach.
Her son – I should say our son – has been placed in the capable care of Frau Steinmann, who has been with us since we left Toeplitz. She is a widow of some sixty years who speaks very little English, and so we have been able to converse freely in her presence. We have also found here a wet-nurse, who has no English, and a very able young man, Gerhart by name, who has taken a great liking to us both, but especially to my wife, and has so far proved himself to be both eager to serve us and deserving of our trust. He speaks a little English, having been employed for a time in a hotel in Marienbad, and so we are careful what we say in front of him, and always make a point of discussing confidential matters when we are away from the house and en plein air, for of course, after the business with Mrs Kraus, my wife and I are doubly wary. But servants we must have, and these two – in my considered judgment – are exactly what we require, and better could not be easily found.
The baptism is to take place on Monday week. Drexler has arranged everything, as before, although I regret to inform your Lordship that my wife has been obliged to draw on the reserves that we are carrying with us to reimburse Drexler for what he terms ‘unforeseen outlays’ with respect to the ceremony.
The house here stands away from the town, and we have hardly been out since we arrived. We are confident that, beyond Dr Weiss (brought in by Drexler from a town some thirty miles distance – another considerable expense) and a handful of tradesmen, as well of course as Frau Steinmann and Gerhart, not more than half a dozen people know that we are here, or of the birth of
our
son.
I need hardly add that I am acutely conscious also of my debt of duty towards your Lordship, and you may depend on my carrying it out – as I have been ever used to do, as a military man – to the letter.
My wife hopes to write to you herself, if she is strong enough, tomorrow.
I remain, my Lord, yours to command,
T. ZALUSKI (COLONEL)
P.S. I had no sooner finished writing this letter than my wife called down, insisting that I bring it up to her so that she might correct my English, and so that you might know that it comes from her as well as from me. Thus I was obliged to write it all out fair once again! T.Z.

LETTER 9

Mrs Tadeusz Zaluski to Lord Tansor

[Postmarked Dux, 25th September 1855]

MY LORD,—
We have arrived in Dux. My son is strong and well! And so am I.
The necessary documents were prepared by Drexler as arranged, and with the requisite date – Tadeusz has them all safe. Our task now is to continue to remain as sequestered from prying eyes as we can, until we are able to return to England.
What a tedious time lies ahead! But Tadeusz is excellent company, and we have a good store of books (including, of course, several volumes of dear Phoebus’s poems, which I never tire of reading). The house is beautifully situated, with a distant view of the palace, and I can look forward to plenty of healthful exercise, as well as heart-lifting prospects of mountains and forests.
The little one is a delight – more even-tempered than any baby I have known. And, young though he is, I already see such a likeness to his father! It has made me quite gasp sometimes. Tadeusz has been a rock, and I confess that I have grown quite fond of him, although of course I shall never feel for him a fraction of my devotion to dearest Phoebus, whom I have never ceased to think of through all these weeks and months, and never shall, for as long as I live.
What has been troubling me now is how my marriage, and the birth of P—, will be seen by those less charitable souls in society when we return. I expect opprobrium in some quarters for the precipitate manner in which I appear to have conducted myself so soon after the death of P.R.D. But why should I worry about such people? I have Duport blood in me, and so do not need to pay any heed to smallminded tittle-tattle.
Others, I hope, will say, why should an unexpected attachment be resisted, even when it comes so soon after such a loss as I have suffered? Surely that will not be condemned? People will see that Tadeusz and I are happy, for we truly are; and my friends – my
true
friends – will rejoice when I return to England a mother, bringing with me a fine son to present to his noble relative.
So, you see, I have now argued myself out of my anxieties – for I admit only to you that I have greatly feared more often in these last days, when everything, or nearly everything, has been achieved, than ever before, that we shall eventually be found out.
But now I must take the little one out for his walk – under a brilliant sun that I hope is also shining down on Evenwood, the place where I long so much to be once more.
Ever yr loving,
E. ZALUSKI

LETTER 10

[Postmarked Carlsbad, 11th March 1856]
MY LORD,—
We arrived here from Prague late last evening.
The time, we think, has now come to give out the news of our return. I believe you have in mind to place announcements in
The Times
and the
Illustrated London News,
which should suffice. Tongues will do the rest.
We leave here on Friday. A few days in Paris are proposed, and then home at last.
How I long to see Evenwood again – and, most of all, to place its beautiful heir in your arms!
Yrs ever & truly,
E.

32

The Consequences of a Lie

I
The Great Secret Revealed

C
ALMLY FOLDING
the last letter, I sit back in the chair, staring out, through a thickening curtain of rain, at the carriage-road winding down to the grey mass of the great house, planted, like some fantastic palace of legend, in its shallow bowl of misty green.
I re-read each of the ten letters in turn, making notes on each, to establish the following sequence of events:
1. The ten letters corroborate what Inspector Gully has gleaned from Conrad: that in January 1855, despite her grief, Miss Emily Carteret had gone to Bohemia, with Lord Tansor’s blessing, with the sole but secret aim of seeking out a husband. Fortune quickly favours her, and, soon after arriving in Carlsbad, she discovers a suitable candidate in the impecunious Colonel Zaluski.
2. Certain arrangements are made, and Miss Carteret quickly marries her Polish colonel, apparently towards the end of March.
3. In September 1855, Mrs Zaluski, as she has now become, gives birth to a son, christened Perseus Verney Zaluski.
4. In April 1856, fifteen months after leaving England, Emily returns in triumph to Evenwood with her husband and son.
On the face of it, these facts seem innocuous enough; but behind them is hidden a far less innocent truth.
Time, Mr Wraxall had said, was of the essence in our attempts to unlock the secret that Lady Tansor has gone to such terrible lengths to conceal. As I sit watching the rain-swayed trees in the barrister’s unkempt patch of garden, I finally understand what he had meant.
Words on paper. Deadly words. But numbers, too, can be deadly – numbers in the form of dates.
Miss Emily Carteret arrives in Carlsbad on the 2nd of February 1855. She meets Colonel Zaluski on the 9th of February, just a week later. Arrangements – of an unspecified character, although certainly including some financial consideration – are quickly made with him on the 11th and 12th.
Miss Carteret and Colonel Zaluski are married, in Toeplitz, on the 23rd of March 1855. Their first son, Perseus, is born – inferring the date from the postmark on Letter 8 – on the 15th of September 1855, in Ossegg, to where the couple had moved from Toeplitz six months earlier.
Colonel and Mrs Zaluski, with their son, return to Carlsbad from Prague on the 10th of March 1856. They leave Carlsbad four days later, eventually arriving back at Evenwood on the 7th of April 1856 – confirmed by the announcement in the
Illustrated London News
, described by Mr Lazarus in his recollections.
The truth of it all lay here, in a puzzling chronological discrepancy. Why had Perseus’s recent majority been celebrated on Christmas Day, when it was clear from the letters that he had been born in September?
Then I recall the afternoon on which I had taken tea with Sukie and her mother, and of what Mrs Prout had said concerning the strange notion of the then Mrs Zaluski that, on the advice of her foreign doctor, her son must be kept away from people at all times, and closely wrapped up, even in summer. I remember, too, how Mrs Prout had said that Professor Slake, on catching a glimpse of the young heir, had quipped that the boy had been misnamed: ‘He should have been called “Nimrod”,’ Mrs Prout had reported the Professor as saying. Nimrod: the mighty hunter before the Lord, vigorous and strong in body. How had Mrs Prout herself described the infant? ‘The bonniest three-month child, indeed, I ever did see.’ I had paid little heed to her words at the time; but now they seemed full of unconscious significance.
Time. Dates.
Now I understand. Now I see it.
Perseus was not three months old when Colonel and Mrs Zaluski returned to Evenwood in April 1856, to place the future heir in the welcoming arms of proud Lord Tansor. He was a little over six months old. A bonnie three-month child he must indeed have seemed; and little wonder that his mother had been obliged to concoct a story to keep him from view, swaddled in enveloping shawls, away from inquisitive eyes, until he could be safely brought out, and his uncommon size and robustness displayed to general scrutiny without exciting suspicion.
The contribution to the plot of the unprincipled German lawyer, Herr Drexler, is now also apparent: he must have been paid to prepare the necessary documents, in which he had inserted the fictitious date of 25th December for the heir’s birth. All subsequent public computations of the infant’s age had therefore been based on this falsified birth-date. With a grudging smile, I reflect on the audacity of the choice of natal day – when both the Son of God and the Duport heir had come into the world of men.
I can draw only one final, momentous conclusion.
Miss Emily Carteret had been with child when she left England in January 1855 – unmarried, and in mourning for her lately slain fiancé. A husband was required, to act as a father to the baby she was secretly carrying. That husband was Colonel Tadeusz Zaluski. That child was Perseus Duport, the present Duport heir, the author of
Merlin and Nimue
, who had lately proposed to me on the Ponte Vecchio. The man I loved.
But who was his true father?
Who else but the man his mother had called Lord Tansor’s ‘shining hope’ the love of her life; the co-betrayer, with her, of my father?
Who else, but Phoebus Rainsford Daunt?