Betrayal at Lisson Grove - Anne Perry [144]
‘Vespasia. How very agreeable to see you. Come here!’
Vespasia went forward and dropped a graceful curtsy, her head slightly bowed, her back perfectly straight. ‘Your Majesty.’
‘Who are these?’ Victoria enquired, looking beyond Vespasia to Narraway and Charlotte. She lowered her voice only slightly. ‘Your maid, presumably. The man looks like a doctor. I didn’t send for a doctor. There’s nothing the matter with me. Every fool in this household is treating me as if I’m ill. I want to go for a walk in the garden, and I am being prevented. I am Empress of a quarter of the world, and my own household won’t let me go for a walk in the garden!’ Her voice was petulant. ‘Vespasia, come for a walk with me.’ She made to rise to her feet, but she was too far back in the chair to do so without assistance, and rather too fat to do it with any grace.
‘Ma’am, it would be better if you were to remain seated,’ Vespasia said gently. ‘I am afraid I have some very harsh news to tell you—’
‘Lady Vespasia!’ Narraway warned.
‘Be quiet, Victor,’ Vespasia told him without turning her eyes away from the Queen. ‘Her Majesty deserves to know the truth.’
‘I demand to know it!’Victoria snapped. ‘What is going on?’
Narraway stepped back, surrendering with as much dignity as possible.
‘I regret to say, ma’am,’ Vespasia said frankly, ‘that Osborne House has been surrounded by armed men. Of what number I do not know, but several of them are inside and have taken your household prisoner.’
Victoria stared at her, then glanced past her at Narraway. ‘And who are you? One of those . . . traitors?’
‘No, ma’am. Until very recently I was head of your Special Branch,’ he replied gravely.
‘Why are you not still so? Why did you leave your post?’
‘I was dismissed, ma’am, by traitors within. But I have come now to be of whatever service I may until help arrives, as it will do. We have seen to it.’
‘When?’
‘I hope by nightfall, or shortly after,’ Narraway replied. ‘First the new head of the Branch must be absolutely certain whom he can trust.’
The Queen sat very still for several moments. The ticking of the longcase clock seemed to fill the room.
‘Then we had best wait with some composure,’Victoria said at last. ‘We will fight if necessary.’
‘Before that we may have some chance to attempt escape—’ Narraway began.
Victoria glared at him again. ‘I am Queen of England and the British Empire, young man. In my reign we have stood our ground and won wars in every corner of the earth. Am I to run away from a group of hooligans in my own house? In Osborne?’
Narraway stood a little more uprightly.
Vespasia held her head high.
Charlotte found her own back ramrod straight.
‘I should think so!’ Victoria said, regarding them with a very slight approval. ‘To quote one of my greatest soldiers, Sir Colin Campbell, who said at the Battle of Balaclava, “Here we stand, and here we die.”’ She smiled very slightly. ‘But since it may be some time, you may sit, if you wish.’
Chapter Twelve
Pitt returned to Lisson Grove knowing that he had no allies there except probably Stoker, and that the safety of the Queen, perhaps of the whole royal House, depended upon him. He was surprised, as he walked up the steps and in through the doorway, how intensely he felt about it. There was a fierce loyalty in him, but not towards an old woman sitting in lonely widowhood in a house on the Isle of Wight, nursing the memories of the husband she had adored. Millions of people were lonely; many had always been so. Most of them were also poor, often sick, and bore with it with both grace and fortitude.
It was the leadership he cared about,