From Governess to Countess (Matches Made in Scandal #1)(47)

Here, Madame Orlova’s voice faltered. Her eyes filled with tears, and she looked quite stricken. ‘I said...’ She cleared her throat. ‘I told Her Serene Highness of how I’d found her chamber empty when I’d come to fetch her in the night, and she...’ What little colour the tea had put back in the governess’s cheeks disappeared. ‘She was like a woman demented. Screaming at me that I lied, calling me such names, using language I would not have imagined she even understood. I thought—even now, after all these months, the memory—I barely recognised her.’

Allison, quite astonished by this revelation, cast a questioning look at Aleksei, but he shook his head, indicating that she should take the lead, while he removed Madame Orlova’s empty teacup from her clasp, and set about refilling it. ‘What happened next, madame?’ Allison asked.

‘She had obviously been crying,’ the governess replied, her voice not much more than a whisper. ‘I noticed it straight away, when I entered her bedchamber. Her eyes were rimmed with red, her hair, her beautiful hair that she was so proud of, it was a tangle. Only I was so concerned to tell her about Nikki, I did not at first ask her what had overset her so—as I should have. We were not close friends, that would not have been appropriate, for Her Serene Highness was a duchess, and I—but we shared, as you do, spending so much time together with the children, little confidences, small jokes. I thought she trusted me.’

A sob was quickly stifled. Madame Orlova’s hands were shaking when she accepted her second cup of tea, and she drank it, as was Aleksei’s custom, in one draught.

‘You are still much affected by the events of that day,’ Allison said, trying to disguise her impatience, for she had no idea, as yet, where the governess’s story was leading. Save that she was by now certain that Madame Orlova was not a murderess.

‘I have missed the children terribly.’

‘And they you, madame.’

‘How are they? I have been so worried about les pauvres petites. Such a terrible tragedy they have had to cope with.’

‘Indeed,’ Aleksei interjected as her mouth trembled on the brink of another sob. ‘But you will be able see for yourself that they are well, that Miss Galbraith has been taking excellent care of them, just as soon as you have finished your tale.’

‘Oh!’ The governess’s face lit up. ‘Oh, Your Illustrious Highness, I cannot thank you enough.’

‘I do not want thanks, madame, I wish you to tell Miss Galbraith what you have already told me, as concisely as possible.’

‘Yes. Of course, Your Illustrious Highness.’ The governess obediently set down her cup and sat up straight. ‘I asked Her Serene Highness if I could help her. Whatever had kept her from her chamber last night had obviously overset her, I said, and it was that I think, the mention of her absence, which sent her over the edge. She screamed at me that no one on earth could help her and that I was to leave. I was so shocked. I tried to reason with her, but Her Serene Highness seemed quite beyond reason. She insisted that I leave the palace at once and never return. I was not to communicate ever again with anyone from the Derevenko family, nor with any of the palace servants. I was never to mention her absence from the palace the night before or the conversation we were having to a living soul. She said—she said that if I did there would be most dire consequences for both myself and my family. I had no option but to give her my word, and I kept it, Your Illustrious Highness, but Her Serene Highness has been dead some months, and I have been so worried about the children, so I very foolishly and impetuously wrote to Nyanya enclosing the note for Catiche. When you arrived at my cottage, I assumed that you...’

‘That I was the bearer of the dire consequences Duchess Elizaveta had promised?’

‘Yes.’

Aleksei frowned. ‘You clearly know that both the Duke and Duchess were dead within a few days of your leaving the palace?’

‘Of course. It was in all the newspapers. A terrible, terrible tragedy.’

‘But still you did not break your promise? Despite being, as you have just admitted, very concerned for your former charges?’

‘You can have no idea how concerned, Your Illustrious Highness, but the reach of the Derevenko family is long. I could not know what measures Her Serene Highness had taken to ensure my ongoing silence. I could not risk any harm befalling my family.’

Aleksei stared at the governess, making no attempt to disguise his scepticism. ‘You honestly believed that the Duchess Elizaveta would do—what?’

‘I chose not to imagine,’ Madame Orlova answered with a shudder. ‘Forgive me, Your Illustrious Highness, but you were not present that morning. Her Serene Highness was quite demented, clearly at her wits’ end. Her desperation was obvious. I took her threats very seriously indeed.’

‘What can have transpired for her to be at her wits’ end, as you put it?’ Allison asked.

‘I would not wish to speculate, Miss Galbraith, but I will say this. Their Serene Highnesses were very, very proud of the Derevenko family’s spotless reputation. At court, the Duke and Duchess were uniquely famed for their honesty and fidelity, and above all, for being above any sort of scandal. I believed that morning, and am of the same opinion now, that Her Serene Highness would do almost anything to protect that reputation.’

*