Fire on the Snow by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland [Cartland, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782137696
Published: 2015-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Alexander II, Czar of all the Russias, was reviewing his troops.

He looked extremely impressive on horseback, wearing a white tunic festooned in decorations, while the horsecloth that covered his mount was of red, embroidered with the Imperial Coat of Arms.

In front of him marched the crack Regiment of the Chevaliers Gardes and the Gardes à Cheval. After them came the Hussars commanded by the Heritier, the Lancers, Grenadiers and Cossacks.

Every soldier looked exactly the same as the soldier next to him, while every horse of a Regiment was the same size, colour and shape.

In the Barracks of the First Corps of Cadets, Alida with Mary and the Countess sat at one window in the General’s private room, while the other three windows were occupied by distinguished notabilities.

The Barracks on the Wassili Ostow measured, Alida was told, a quarter of an English mile square, while the length of its rooms and inhabited areas added up to nearly seven miles. It housed over three thousand Cadets.

The parade was awe-inspiring in its size. There must have been over ten thousand men taking part, but Alida’s eyes were attracted rather to the magnificent buildings stretching towards the River Neva, their coloured domes and spires bright against the grey sky.

It was fantastic, the City that had been the dream child of its founder, Peter the Great.

The Countess rose to speak to some acquaintances who had just entered the room and Alida, feeling that perhaps her silence showed a lack of enthusiasm, said to Mary,

“I have never seen such a big parade!”

Her cousin did not answer and, after a moment, because she wanted to know the answer, Alida asked,

“Is the Prince with the Emperor’s entourage? I cannot see him.”

“No,” Mary replied, “he is with the Committee for the Emancipation of the Serfs and doing, Count Ivan tells me, incredible harm.”

Her voice was sharp as she went on,

“Ivan says that, if the Prince has his way, the whole structure of Russian Society will crumble into dust and thousands of Noblemen will be ruined.”

“I am sure His Highness has taken that into consideration,” Alida murmured.

“Ivan thinks,” Mary continued as if she had not heard, “that someday someone will murder the Prince. In fact Ivan swears that if he has the chance, he himself will push His Highness under the ice and leave him there until he drowns.”

Alida looked at Mary incredulously.

“How can you say such things about the man you are to marry?” she asked.

“Do you imagine I wish to marry a pauper or to live in a country where there is no one to serve us?”

“We don’t have serfs in England, yet a number of people contrive to be very comfortable,” Alida replied.

“That is different!” Mary snapped. “Are you so stupid that you don’t understand that a man’s wealth here depends on the number of serfs he owns?

“The Benkendorf family would be crippled without the thousands of ‘souls’ that have been theirs for generations. You can imagine the feelings of Count Sheremetief who possesses male serfs one hundred and fifty thousand himself.

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