The Firebird

‘What position do you speak of?’

‘Why, as consul, sir.’

The smooth voice showed a sharp edge. ‘Mistress, you are misinformed. It was, in good measure, my private affairs that induced me to come. Though, of course, if I can be of any assistance to those of my countrymen here in the Factory, by virtue of my own connections, I’ll offer it gladly.’

‘That is very kind of you, captain,’ she said, ‘for I hear your connections are most high, indeed.’

She left it there, and looked at Edmund to discover that his eyes were not on Deane’s face, but her own, as Mrs Hewitt interjected with, ‘I’m sure our men would all be pleased to have the benefit of your advice and prudence, Captain Deane. ’Tis sure you’ve lived a wide and varied life.’

He gave a gracious half-bow of his head, to show acceptance of her compliment, then turned as he had done before, to Edmund. ‘And what of yourself, Mr O’Connor? What is your own background?’

‘Varied and wide, to be sure.’ Edmund smiled. ‘I was lately in Spain, but have been here in Petersburg now several months.’

‘Doing what, may I ask?’

‘Very little of anything, Captain. The general has offered to find me a place as lieutenant in one of his regiments, but ’tis a junior position and one I’m not sure suits my temperament.’

Anna, who’d heard nothing of this till now, glanced at Edmund, her brow furrowed faintly.

Deane asked him, ‘And what would you otherwise do?’

‘I had thought of returning to Spain,’ Edmund told him, in serious tones that revealed he was telling the truth, ‘for if I am bound to live ever in exile, ’tis better to be where the weather is warmer, and living is not so expensive.’

‘You’ve just missed your passage then, surely,’ said Deane, ‘for when I came past Sweden I saw three ships, Russian ships, just coming out of the Baltic, and word was they might have been destined for Spain.’ Then he said, ‘The Pretender’s affairs are quite highly supported in Spain, are they not?’

Anna bristled, as she always did, at the disrespect shown by anyone calling King James ‘The Pretender’, as though the King’s enemies, sitting in Parliament, could with one dishonest vote so subvert God’s design and the natural order of things to deny James the throne that was his right by birth. If anyone was to be called ‘The Pretender’, Anna reasoned, it must surely be the foreign prince who’d taken James’s place by such deceit, and dared to style himself ‘King’ George.

She might have even said as much had Edmund’s hand not lightly touched her back as he replied to Deane, ‘I do not take much notice, sir, of politics.’

‘You’re kin to General Lacy, I believe you said?’

‘I am.’

‘The general,’ Deane said, ‘always did impress me as a man who threw his whole self into service of the country that employed him, and did not let foreign influences meddle with his purpose.’

Anna knew that he had cast that out as careful bait, to see if Edmund could be lured to disagree and so provide an insight into General Lacy’s thoughts, but she could do no more than hold her breath and wait to see if Edmund had observed the ploy.

Without a change of tone, still sounding friendly, Edmund answered, ‘Aye, ’tis sure the general always knows exactly whom he serves.’

‘I would that I could say as much,’ said Deane, ‘for many of the merchants here. I have been speaking to their chaplain, and he tells me he is heartily abused here. Mrs Hewitt, is it true one of the members of this Factory even threatened once to have the chaplain caned, on learning he had sworn the oaths to serve His Majesty our King?’

The merchant’s wife confirmed it. ‘Yes, and there are several in the congregation, Captain, I’m ashamed to say, who spit during the service when King George’s name is mentioned.’

Captain Deane shook his head in disbelief. ‘I observe things are still as they were when the Tsar lived, with Jacobites being caressed here upon all occasions, whilst good honest Englishmen are forced to bow and cringe off at a distance.’

‘Can Jacobites never be good honest men, Captain?’ Anna asked.

Deane said, ‘I’ve never yet met one. Indeed, had more care been put into the choice of our Factors, things would not have come to that miserable state they are now. We might have had a set of sober-thinking men, who would have added something to the credit of their native country, instead of men sadly debauched both in morals and principals. Generally speaking,’ he qualified, smiling towards Mrs Hewitt. ‘Your husband and others excepted, of course.’

‘Of course. You are coming tonight to my supper, I hope?’

‘I would not wish to miss it. But I first must attempt again to get my goods and baggage entered at the Custom House, for that is all my business at the present. And after that,’ he told her, ‘Mr Nye has very kindly said he’ll tour me through the shipyards, where he says they are now building several pinnaces. But after that, I’ll surely come to you.’

The merchant’s wife was clearly flattered by his smile, and his attention. ‘As a navy man yourself, I’m sure the shipyards will prove most diverting. Truly, there has been so much activity of late upon the river, I believe our squadron may be setting out to sea at last.’

‘It would appear so.’ Deane looked out across the river to the Admiralty, and his keen eyes narrowed slightly with an aspect Anna did not like.