The Forbidden Territory

VII — Simon “Almost” Falls in Love

Later that morning, as Simon waited in the lounge of the Hotel Metropole, he wondered if Valeria Petrovna had remembered her promise to lunch with him. It was already a quarter past one, and she had not yet put in an appearance. He thought it more than probable that she had never taken his invitation seriously, and to guard against this possibility, on his return from the Zoo, he had caused the hall porter to ring up and leave a message at her apartment.

The clock marked two minutes after the half-hour when she arrived, looking radiantly beautiful, enveloped in magnificent furs, both hands outstretched as she hurried across the hall.

“Oh, Mistaire Aron, what a surprise to see you ’ere!”

“Well,” he smiled his little amused smile as he offered her his open cigarette-case, “it’s Thursday, isn’t it?”

“Of course it ees Thursday, but nevaire did I think to see you, all the same; it was late at night when you ask me, after the party — I thought the champagne ’ad gone to your ’ead!”

“Ner — not the champagne!” said Simon, with a quick look.

She laughed delightedly. “Silly boy! Next you will be telling me that you ’ave fallen in love with me!”

“Well,” said the cautious Simon, “I don’t mind telling you — I almost think I have!”

“You almost think, eh? That is rich; nevaire in all my life ’ave I met a man who only thinks ’e ees in love with me!”

Simon drank in her superb dark loveliness. “What a woman!” he thought, and then: “Good thing I’m not given to falling in love, or I should be making a fool of myself! What about a spot of lunch,” he said, getting up from his chair and smiling blandly into her eyes.

“Lunch — yes, but a spot — what ees that?” she asked, turning and leading the way to the restaurant.

“Just — er — an expression,” he laughed, in his jerky, nervous way as he followed her. “I wish we were in London — then I would give you a lunch!”

“’Ow! You do not like Moskawa?” she asked, with “a quick frown, as he held a chair for her at a small table near the window.

He saw at once that he was on delicate ground. “Oh, yes,” he prevaricated, hastily; “wonderful city!”

“Ah, wonderful indeed,” she cried, earnestly, and he saw a gleam of fanaticism leap into her dark eyes. “It ees marvellous what ’as been done in Russia these last years; you must see Stalingrad, and the Dnieprestroy; work created for thousands of people, electric light for ’alf a kopeck an ’our, and the workpeople ’appy, with good food and good apartments.”

“I’d like to see the Dnieprestroy,” he agreed; “after Niagara it will be the biggest electric plant in the world, I believe.”

“The biggest!” she said, proudly, “and the great dam shall raise the water thirty feet in the air over all the baddest part of the river, so that ships can sail all the seven hundred versts from Kiev to Odessa!”

Simon knew quite well that Niagara was the bigger hydro-electric station, but tact was more essential than truth at the moment, so he nodded solemnly. “Marvellous!” he agreed, looking at her sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks. “I must see that.”

“And the great factory of tractors at Stalingrad,” she continued, enthusiastically; “you must see that also and the great palace of Industry at Karkov — all these things you must see to understand our new Russia!”

“Well — I’ll tell you — it’s really your acting I want to see!” Simon smiled at her over the plate of excellent Bœuf Strognoff he was eating.

“Ah, that ees nothing,” she shrugged; “my art ees good, in that it gives pleasure to many, but it ees a thing which passes; these others, they will remain; they are the steps by which Russia will rise to dominate the world!”

“You really believe that?” he asked, curiously.

“But yes,” she answered, with wide-eyed fervour; “’ave you not seen in Moskawa alone the ’ouses ’ow they ’ave come down, and the factories ’ow they ’ave gone up? The Russian people no longer toil in slavery, it ees their turn to be the masters!”

For some time she talked on fervently and happily about the Five Year Plan — the tremendous difficulties with which Russia was faced through the bitter opposition of the capitalist countries, and the hopelessly inadequate supply of technical experts, but she assured him that they were making steady progress and would overcome every obstacle in time.

He was content to put in a word here and there, quietly enjoying the animation of his lovely guest, and gradually he found himself caught up by her faith and enthusiasm. It was true — all that she said. The capital, as a whole, presented an extraordinary spectacle of decrepitude and decay, rows of empty shops and houses that had not known paint and repair for almost a generation, yet, out of this apparent death fine buildings of steel and glass were everywhere springing up, and although the people in general seemed ill-clothed and underfed, the majority appeared busy and contented.

Was Russia really turning the corner, Simon wondered, after the terrible succession of upheavals that had rent the state from end to end during these last fifteen years? Was the iron rule of the Kommissars at last bearing amazing fruit? What would that mean to the world in, say, another ten years’ time? Simon’s busy brain began to translate goldmarks into sterling and sterling into pesos, and pesos into land, and land back again into millereis; but he did not allow Valeria Petrovna to imagine for one moment that his thoughts were not entirely concentrated upon her charming self!

“What ’ave you come to do in Russia?” she asked, suddenly; “do not say that you ’ave come all the way just to give me the luncheon — but you would not, I know you are not the liar — that, I think, is why I like you.”

It was a difficult question to answer. Simon had not forgotten the Duke’s warning — that the walls of the Hotel Metropole has as many ears as any Papal Palace in mediaeval Italy, so he said discreetly: “Well, it’s a long story, but as a matter of fact, I’ve been meaning to come to Russia for a long time now, wanted to see all these wonderful new factories. I’m interested in that sort of thing, you know!”

As he spoke he regarded her steadily with his sharp expressive eyes, and evidently she understood, for she smiled slightly.

“You must come and visit my apartment, it is quiet there. You can tell me all about yourself; I am interested in you, Mistaire Aron, you do not make stupid love, like all the other young men; yet you like me, do you not?” Her smile became bewitching.

“I’d love to come,” said Simon, simply, and the world of meaning in his voice was a sufficient answer to her question.

“Let us see, then,” her eyes sparkled; “it must be at a time when Leshkin ees not there. Oh, ’e ees so jealous, that one, you ’ave no idea! The scene ’e make me when I go off to lunch with you. I ’ad not thought for a little minute that you would be ’ere, and when your message come and I telephone ’im to say I cannot meet ’im — Ho! what a temper! It all comes, I think, because ’e ’as red ’air!” and she went off into peals of delighted laughter.

“What about the afternoon?” Simon suggested.

“Why not?” she smiled; “you shall come back with me, and we will make what you call Whoopee!”

She was as infectious in her child-like gaiety as in her fierce enthusiasms, and Simon felt the spirit of adventure stirring in him.

“I’d love to come,” he said, again.

“Let us go, then — now, this moment!” She set down her coffee cup and rose impulsively.

He followed her out of the restaurant, and they secured their furs. Madame Karkoff’s limousine was waiting at the hotel entrance; it was one of the few private cars that Simon had seen during his two days’ stay in Moscow. The fact that the traffic was almost entirely composed of tramcars and occasional carts, and that their car was not once blocked en route, made Simon revise his lunch-time reflections as to the true prosperity of Soviet Russia; the traffic of a city is a very good index to its wealth and commercial activities. Making a mental note to consider the business aspect of the position later, Simon devoted himself to the lovely creature at his side.

Madame Karkoff’s apartment was on the first floor of an old-fashioned block. She explained to him that all the new domestic buildings were composed of large numbers of small flats, modern in every way, with communal kitchens and wash-houses, and crèches for the workers’ children, but that none of these flats were of any size. If one wanted spacious rooms, there was nothing to be had other than the mansions and apartments of the old bourgeoisie.

The outside of the building was depressing, with its peeling paint and rain-streaked walls, but the inside was a revelation.

The great rooms were almost barbaric in their splendour, with no trace of modern decoration. Magnificent tapestries hung from the walls and beautiful lamps in Russian silver filigree from the ceiling; the polished floor was strewn with furs and Persian carpets in glowing reds and purples.

A maid in a neat dark dress put a tray with tea in glasses, and sugar and lemon, on a low stool beside her mistress, and Valeria Petrovna drew Simon down on to the divan beside her.

“Now tell me,” she commanded, “why, Mistaire Aron, you — come to Russia?”

“Simon,” he corrected, gently.

“Simon!” She went off into fits of laughter. “Simon — that ees good — you know why I laugh?”

“Ner —” he confessed, puzzled.

“It ees the childhood rhyme I learn when I have an English nurse: ‘Simple Simon met a pieman, going to a fair; said Simple Simon to the pieman, what ’ave you got there?’“ and once more she dissolved into tears of childish laughter.

“Now look here,” Simon protested, “that’s quite enough of that!” but he smiled his kind, indulgent smile at her teasing.

“What ees a pieman?” she inquired, seriously.

“Chap who makes pies,” Simon grinned from ear to ear; “you know — cakes, puddings, and all that.”

“All, well, I am glad I am not a pieman! Tell me, little Simon, what are you?”

“Well,” Simon hesitated, “I’m a banker, in a way — but I’ll tell you, I do all sorts of other things as well. I’m interested in chemicals and metals and phosphorus.”

“And what do you make ’ere in Moscow?”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not here on business exactly,” Simon continued, cautiously; “I’m looking for a friend of mine; he got into some trouble with the police, I believe.”

She looked suddenly grave. “That ees bad; they are powerful, the Ogpu — was it for politics that ’e got into trouble?”

Simon was in a quandary; he wanted to discover the whereabouts of Rex, but he could not tolerate the idea of lying to this beautiful and charming woman, who seemed to have taken such a liking to him, and in whom his own interest was growing deeper every minute. Honesty, with Simon, was not only policy, but a principle from which he never deviated — it had brought him the confidence and respect of business acquaintances and friends alike.

“Ner,” he answered, “not as far as I know. Perhaps he may have gone somewhere he should not have gone, or got tight or something, but I don’t think he got into a muddle with politics. The only thing I know is that he is in prison, poor devil.”

“But what could you do? Even if you know where ’e was, they would not let ’im out — ”

“We’d get him out,” said Simon, promptly. “If we knew where he was, we’d apply for his release through his Embassy; he’s an American. But we can’t, you see, if we don’t know! That’s the trouble.”

“I will see what I can do,” she said suddenly. “Kommissar Leshkin ’as a great deal to do with the prisons. What ees the name of your frien’?”

“Rex Van Ryn.” Simon spoke the syllables carefully. “Here,” he produced a gold pencil from his waistcoat pocket, “I’ll write it down for you — no, better write it yourself — you’ll understand your own writing better.” He gave her the pencil, and she wrote the name in a large round childish hand as he spelt it out for her.

She pushed the piece of paper into the top drawer of a small desk that stood near her.

“You won’t forget?” Simon asked, anxiously.

“No,” she shook her dark head; “eet may take a little time, but an occasion will come when I can ask Leshkin — ’e may not know ’imself, but ’e will tell me if ’e does.”

“I — er — suppose Kommissar Leshkin is a great friend of yours?” hazarded Simon.

She made a little grimace. “What would you — ’ow. old are you? Twenty-eight; thirty, perhaps; three, four years older than myself — it does not matter. You are a man of the world; you know it, then. All artistes must have a protector; eef I ’ad lived twenty years ago it would ’ave been a Grand Duke; now eet is a Kommissar. What does eet matter; eet is life!”

Simon nodded with much understanding, but he went on quietly probing. “Of course, I realize that, but — er — I mean, is it just a political allience, or are you really friendly?”

“I ’ate ’im,” she said, suddenly, with a flash of her magnificent eyes; “’e is stupid, a bore, ’e ’as no delicacy of feeling, no finesse. In the revolution ’e did terrible things. Sometimes it makes me shudder to think ’ow ’is ’ands they are cover with blood — ’e was what you call ‘Terrorist’ then. It was ’im they send to crush the revolt in the Ukraine; eet was ’orrible that, the people that ’e kill, ’ole batches at a time. Most of those terrorist they are finish now, but not ’im; ’e is cunning, you understand, and strong, that is ’ow ’e keeps ’is place among the others; if ’e ’as any attraction for me, it is ’is strength, I think — but let us not talk of ’im.”

Unfortunately they were not destined to talk of anything else, for raised voices sounded at that moment in the hall outside, the door was thrust violently open, and the big, red-headed Kommissar strode in with a scowl on his face.

Simon got slowly to his feet, and Valeria Petrovna introduced them, recalling to Leshkin their former brief meeting in London.

“How do you do?” said Simon, in his most polite manner.

“Thank you — and yourself?” said Leshkin, without any trace of cordiality in his manner; “do you stay long in Moskawa?”

“Don’t know,” Simon replied, airily. “I rather like Moscow, I may stay for a month.” He was well aware that he had done nothing so far to which the authorities could object, and behind his passport lay all the power and prestige that gives every British subject such a sense of security in any part of the world. Moreover, passport or no passport, Mr. Simon Aron was not accustomed to being browbeaten. Between his rather narrow shoulders there lay a quiet but very determined courage, so, ignoring Leshkin, he turned with a smile to Valeria Petrovna and asked her to dine with him that night.

“But ’ow can I? You forget the theatre; but you shall call for me, and we will ’ave supper after. Leshkin,” she turned imperiously to the Kommissar, “do not be a bear; Mistake Aron is the guest of Russia — ’elp ’im with ’is furs, and show ’im out.”

Leshkin’s small eyes narrowed beneath his beetling brows, his great jaw came forward with an ugly curve — for the fraction of a second it looked as though he were going to seize the frail Simon in his big powerful hands.

Valeria Petrovna stood between them, her eyes never left Leshkin’s face. With a sharp movement she flicked the butt of her cigarette from the long slender holder. Suddenly the Kommissar relaxed, and with a little shrug of his giant shoulders obeyed.