Princes and Peasants Read online

  ‘If I remember rightly, I dared more than you, but it’s not worth arguing who seduced who now we’re married. Peter used to say, “The only time to talk about money is when you haven’t any.” It’s hardly a secret, Richard. It’s usual for men to take out insurance so their wives will be provided for if anything happens to them.’

  ‘I’ve never given a thought as to what will happen to you and our baby if I die. You didn’t say a word …’

  ‘Because you didn’t ask,’ she interrupted. ‘I assumed you knew.’

  ‘I haven’t taken out any insurance.’

  ‘We were only married two days ago. There’s plenty of time.’ Sarah regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth. She and Peter had believed they had all the time in the world before he’d died of cholera shortly after they reached Hughesovka.

  ‘I could be killed working in one of the pits. I don’t have enough to money to buy a house …’

  ‘But I do, and you have prospects.’ Sarah hooked her arm even more tightly into Richard’s.

  ‘You can’t live off prospects. I’m an idiot.’

  ‘You’re far from being an idiot. But you are an impulsive romantic fool who chased after me when I left you, and for that I’ll be for ever grateful.’

  Preoccupied by guilt, he didn’t hear what she’d said. ‘What kind of a husband doesn’t think of the future of his family?’

  ‘You’re regretting you married me?’ She wondered if he’d suddenly been overwhelmed by the responsibility he’d taken on. Marriage and fatherhood at any age was daunting. Richard was barely twenty and she could imagine that he felt crushed, especially given their eleven-year age difference.

  ‘No, never!’

  ‘Richard…’

  ‘Please don’t mention the age difference between us again,’ he begged. ‘Years mean nothing.’

  ‘When the man is older than the woman, perhaps.’

  ‘I like having an older, more experienced wife, and I can’t wait to be a father, but I can’t possibly live off the money Dr Edwards left you.’

  ‘It’s not my money, Richard, it’s our money, and we need a house large enough for all of us, the baby, Anna…’

  A shout echoed from the other end of the quayside. ‘Sarah!’

  They turned around to see a group of people dressed in travelling clothes climbing out of one of the small boats used to ferry passengers from the larger vessels into the shallow waters of the harbour. As the group drew closer Sarah recognised Peter’s oldest brother, Edward, who’d refused John Hughes’s invitation to join him in his venture.

  Shortly after they’d arrived in Russia, Glyn had heard that Edward’s wife Judith had died. Edward had obviously changed his mind about Hughesovka because he was walking towards them, together with Glyn’s wife, Betty, who’d also insisted on staying in Merthyr, two young women, one of whom was carrying a baby, and two boys.

  ‘Sarah, how wonderful to see you. You’re looking well.’ Edward hugged her and kissed her cheek. He turned from her to her companion.

  ‘Richard?’ he murmured uncertainly.

  ‘Mr Edwards.’ Richard shook his hand firmly.

  ‘I hardly recognised you. You’re a foot taller and twice the weight you were when you left Merthyr.’

  ‘All the good Russian food and vodka.’ Richard glanced at Sarah. The news of their relationship had come as a shock to Glyn and they’d been living under his roof. He didn’t need to see the trepidation in Sarah’s eyes to tell him she feared it would upset and antagonise Edward and Betty.

  ‘Richard!’ The two boys flung themselves at him and Richard recognised his younger brothers Owen and Morgan.

  ‘If I’ve grown a foot, you two have grown three!’ Richard joked. Owen was ten and Morgan twelve, but both appeared far older and more confident than when he’d last seen them.

  ‘Your fur coats and hats look expensive. Were they? Are they as warm and heavy as they appear?’ Betty fingered the arm of Sarah’s coat enviously.

  ‘They’re sable like Mr Hughes’s.’ Richard had purchased his in St Petersburg after receiving a bonus from Mr Hughes for rescuing miners trapped after a fall in one of the pits, but he had no intention of telling Betty how much he’d paid for it.

  ‘I can’t believe we’ve walked into you just after landing. Talk about luck. Is it always this cold?’ Edward pulled up the collar of his woollen overcoat.

  Sarah laughed. ‘It gets much colder than this, Edward. But it is unseasonably wintry for the time of year. Where are you staying?’

  ‘Nowhere as yet.’ Edward turned and waved to two porters who were pushing barrows laden with luggage. ‘That’s our hand luggage. I left instructions that our trunks be offloaded, along with the equipment Mr Hughes ordered to be shipped, in the hope they’d be delivered directly to Hughesovka.’

  ‘They will be,’ Richard assured him. ‘The local people can’t do enough to help Mr Hughes.’

  ‘We’re on our way to the British Embassy. The captain of the ship suggested we go there for advice on hotels,’ Betty explained.

  ‘No need, our hotel is just behind us and it’s excellent,’ Sarah advised.

  ‘You think they’ll have rooms for us?’ Edward asked.

  ‘They should do. The Cossack escort Mr Hughes sent to pick up his delivery are staying there as well. They’ve been waiting for the ship to come in so we’ll probably move out first thing in the morning.’ Richard smiled at his brothers. ‘Come on, let’s get you two sorted. You must be tired as well as cold.’

  ‘Exhausted,’ Betty answered. ‘Travelling with a baby is no picnic, I can tell you. You remember Alice Wilkins who was Perkins, don’t you, Richard.’ She pushed one of the girls forward.

  Richard had been besotted with Alice Perkins before he’d left Merthyr but it had ended abruptly. Her overseer father, angered by his daughter’s relationship with a lowly colliery worker, had paid two thugs, Ianto and Mervyn Paskey, to beat Richard senseless. He’d heard afterwards that Alice had been married off to a much older man. She’d put on weight and aged considerably since he’d last seen her and he doubted he would have recognised her if Betty hadn’t told him who she was. He wondered what she was doing in Russia. He offered her his hand.

  ‘I heard you’d married, Alice.’

  ‘I’m a widow.’ To his embarrassment she stood on tiptoe, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him full on the mouth.

  He stepped back swiftly. ‘Let’s get all of you indoors and into the warm.’

  Amused by Richard’s reaction to Alice’s kiss, Sarah turned to the young girl carrying a toddler. ‘That’s a beautiful little girl.’

  ‘Harriet Maud is Glyn’s daughter, born eight months after he left Merthyr. Martha is her nursemaid,’ Betty revealed.

  Martha tentatively returned Sarah’s smile and gave her a small curtsey.

  ‘Congratulations, and apologies for not writing to you, Betty, Glyn hadn’t told me he was a father.’ Sarah took Richard’s arm when he offered it. Her smile broadened when she sensed he was using her as protection from Alice.

  ‘That’s because I didn’t tell him she’d been born.’

  ‘It’s too cold to talk here, Mrs Edwards.’ Richard shouted in Russian to the porters with the handcarts. ‘Follow me.’ He quickened his pace and led the way to the hotel, which was only a few minutes’ walk away. Edward strode alongside him.

  ‘You said that you and Sarah have rooms here?’ Edward checked.

  ‘We do.’

  ‘You’re in Taganrog on Mr Hughes’s business?’

  ‘Sarah will check the medical supplies. I’ll look over the metallurgical equipment before it’s packed for the journey to ensure nothing’s been forgotten,’ Richard hedged, consoling himself with the thought that he hadn’t actually lied. He and Sarah would check the supplies against the loading invoices when the Cossacks packed them for transport to Hughesovka. He didn’t want to explain to Edward why they were in Taganrog – at least not yet, a
nd certainly not in the street outside the hotel. He stood back when the doorman opened the foyer doors.

  ‘As it’s only for one night the boys and I can move into your room, Richard, and Betty and the girls with Sarah,’ Edward suggested.

  ‘I’m sure they’ll have enough rooms available for everyone.’ Sarah went to reception while Morgan and Owen ran to the window that overlooked the stable yard that opened on to the back street. Half a dozen Cossack troopers were rubbing down their horses and cleaning tack. Two stable boys were polishing a magnificent black coach, with a raised metal coat of arms fixed to the doors.

  ‘Important nobs must be staying here, Richard,’ Morgan shouted.

  ‘Keep your voice down, Morgan,’ Richard ordered when several people in the foyer turned to glare at his brothers as they raised their voices.

  ‘Look, Richard,’ Morgan shouted as two soldiers rode into the yard side by side standing on their horses’ backs.

  ‘I’ve never seen anything like that,’ Edward commented as one executed a perfect somersault and landed upright back on his mount.

  ‘Cossack cavalry love showing off. That’s nothing. Wait until you see them riding on their heads in the saddle,’ Richard smiled.

  ‘Royalty’s arrived?’ Sarah indicated the coach as she asked one of the bellboys.

  ‘Their staff and servants, Mrs Parry.’

  Sarah glanced warily at Betty lest she’d overheard the ‘Mrs Parry’, but Glyn’s wife was too busy studying the gilded walls and furniture, tiled floors, and profusion of mirrors that lined the staircase, to pay attention to what was being said.

  ‘This is the kind of place where they charge you to take a breath of air.’ Betty sniffed disparagingly. ‘There has to be somewhere cheaper we can stay?’

  ‘There are plenty of cheaper places, Mrs Edwards, but I doubt you’d want to stay in any of them.’ Richard struggled to conceal his irritation.

  ‘If it’s only for one night, Edward’s right, we’ll shift and make the best of it. Better that than waste money. Ask them to put beds up in your rooms for us, Sarah,’ Betty set her bag on a chair.

  Sarah was already speaking to the concierge manning the desk. Richard joined them. After a few minutes of earnest conversation in Russian, Sarah returned to Edward and Betty.

  ‘They have two suites free. One has a double bed that will accommodate you and Alice, Betty, and a side room large enough to take a full-size cot for your nursemaid, and a smaller one for Harriet Maud. They also have a separate suite with a double bed for you, Edward, and a side room with two singles for the boys.’

  ‘How much are these suites?’ Betty demanded as Edward went to the door to pay the porters who’d brought their hand luggage.

  ‘Ten roubles a night for each suite. I negotiated breakfast for all of you in the price, four adults and three children.’

  ‘Ten roubles? That’s daylight robbery!’ Betty exclaimed, before adding somewhat incongruously, ‘What’s a rouble worth in pounds, shillings, and pence?’

  ‘At the moment it’s roughly eight roubles to an English pound,’ Richard answered.

  ‘Over a pound – for a single night! Both of you must be earning too much money if you can afford to waste it. Unless of course it’s Mr Hughes’s money you’re splashing about?’

  ‘The price includes breakfast for all of you,’ Richard reiterated.

  ‘I’m not paying for breakfast for Harriet Maud. The child barely eats anything.’ Betty crossed her arms across her chest. ‘My money’s staying locked in my purse and we’ll camp in your room.’

  ‘No you won’t –’ Sarah began.

  ‘I always said you were selfish, Sarah Edwards –’

  ‘It’s Parry, Mrs Edwards, Sarah Parry.’ Richard steeled himself for disapproval. ‘You must excuse us for not wanting to share our room but we’re on our honeymoon.’

  For the first time in her life, Betty Edwards was lost for words.

  Chapter Two

  Hotel Bristol

  September 1871

  When Sarah heard a knock at the door of her suite she hoped it would be the waiter. Richard had invited Edward, Betty, and the entire party to tea in their rooms, but as he’d taken his brothers into the yard to introduce them to Captain Misha Razin and his Cossack command, he’d left her to greet them.

  ‘Edward,’ she looked over her brother-in-law’s shoulder and was relieved to see he was alone. ‘Thank you so much for coming.’

  ‘I’ll be your only guest until the boys come up from the yard.’ He walked into the sitting room, ‘I didn’t know people like us could live like this.’

  ‘It’s a luxurious suite,’ Sarah agreed, ‘but the Russians who can afford to stay in hotels demand more opulent surroundings than we do in Britain.’

  ‘And Richard wanted to make his honeymoon special.’

  ‘That too. I’m sorry –’

  The waiter interrupted them. Sarah asked him to wheel the trolley that held the samovar, pancakes, and sandwiches next to the table before tipping him. ‘Thank you, Albert, we’ll serve ourselves.’

  ‘What were you apologising to me for, Sarah?’ Edward asked after Albert left.

  ‘Any hurt I’ve caused you by marrying Richard within a year of Peter’s death.’

  ‘If I’ve learned anything from losing Judith it’s that it’s less painful to live in the present than dwell in the past.’

  ‘I was so sorry to hear Judith succumbed to diphtheria.’

  ‘She died horribly. Unable to swallow, then at the end unable to draw breath. The entire congregation of the chapel prayed for her, to no avail …’ He took a moment to compose himself. ‘I appreciated your letter, Sarah. It arrived on a day when I desperately needed the comfort it gave me.’

  She took his hand. ‘Until you experience it, it’s impossible to imagine what it’s like to lose the person you love the most and are closest to. Or what it’s like having to live on in this world without them.’

  ‘Even more so when you doubt the existence of the next.’

  Sarah was shocked. Edward’s faith had been the cornerstone of his existence. He read the expression on her face.

  ‘I don’t want to talk about it, Sarah.’

  ‘I understand. Please, sit down, Edward.’

  Edward took the chair she indicated. ‘We appear to have forged a bond, you and I, albeit one of grief and sorrow.’

  ‘I’ll never forget Peter and the daughter we would have loved so much, who died before she could live. Having no family of my own, I was grateful for the kindness you and Glyn showed me when you welcomed me into your family. Nothing has changed in that respect. I will always think of you and Glyn as my brothers, Edward.’ She saw anguish in Edward’s eyes and changed the subject. ‘You couldn’t persuade Betty or the girls to join us for tea?’

  Edward shook his head. ‘Alice is in hysterics after Richard’s revelation that he married you, and as Betty pays Martha’s wages the girl doesn’t dare ignore her mistress’s slightest whim. Betty has ordered her to look after Harriet Maud in their hotel room and that’s exactly what she will be doing.’

  ‘I can’t understand Alice’s reaction. Richard told me they never saw or contacted one another after Alice’s father had him beaten, and even before then they’d only managed to snatch a few hours together.’

  ‘From what Richard told me at the time I assumed it was no more than a childish infatuation on both sides, which was why I was concerned when Alice insisted on accompanying Betty and me here. Betty was all for it, because she wanted a woman’s company on the journey. When I tried to talk Alice out of making the trip until she’d written to Richard and he’d sent her a reply, she refused because she said she wanted to “surprise him”.’

  ‘She certainly did that.’ Sarah filled the tea glasses. ‘To change the subject, is it worth me trying to talk to Betty to explain why I married Richard?’

  ‘I wouldn’t if I were you. Give her time, Sarah.’

  ‘She has every r
ight to be angry with me.’

  ‘No she doesn’t. Things are obviously different here to the way they are in Merthyr.’

  ‘Not that different.’

  ‘Please, Sarah, don’t feel guilty. No woman could have loved Peter more than you did when he was alive. You don’t have to justify your actions to me, Betty, or anyone else. I admit I was shocked by the news, but only because I think of Richard as a boy.’

  ‘As did Sarah until I persuaded her to take another look at me.’ Richard walked in, removed his hat and coat, and pulled a chair up to the table.

  ‘Your brothers?’ Sarah asked.

  ‘Are having the time of their lives with the Cossacks. When I left, Morgan was on the back of Misha’s horse and Owen was grooming one of the smaller mounts. Misha promised to take care of them and the clerk at the desk said he’ll send a bellboy up with them so they won’t get lost when they come in from the yard. So, Mr Edwards, if you want to berate Sarah and me and tell us what you really think of us marrying, now is the time to do it.’

  ‘I’d like to offer you both my congratulations.’

  ‘I didn’t know what to expect from you, Mr Edwards, but it certainly wasn’t that,’ Richard watched Sarah fill a third glass with tea.

  ‘Tea is served in a glass here?’ Edwards commented.

  ‘Always, but you’ll soon get used to Russian ways.’

  Edward almost gave a smile as he took his glass from Sarah and lifted it in a toast. ‘To the new Mr and Mrs Parry. Sarah and I have just agreed that life is for living, Richard. Now, tell me about Hughesovka. How are Glyn, your sister Anna, and Mr Hughes? Do you think he can find work for me?’

  ‘An experienced manager like you, Mr Edwards? Mr Hughes will grab you quicker than a collier snatches a tankard of beer after a shift underground. That’s if you decide to work for him and not the Edwards Brothers Collieries.’

  ‘Glyn wrote and told me that the collieries are already a reality.’

  ‘They are, sir, and once we secure the shafts they’ll start producing as much quality anthracite as any Welsh colliery of similar size.’

  ‘That’s good to hear, but I wouldn’t expect any different from a pit Glyn had a hand in sinking or running.’ Edward took a sandwich from the plate Sarah offered him.