Dmitri was glad she could not read his thoughts, because he couldn’t imagine how the British would simply send a ship through the Baltic, which was patrolled by German warships. Would Germany guarantee them safe passage? That would not go down well in revolutionary Russia. But in his reply he did not mention his doubts:
Now that your vanity has returned, I am reassured you will soon be yourself again … Once you sail for England, I will follow hot on your heels. Perhaps your parents will allow us to be officially wed there if the revolution is prolonged. We could buy a manor house in the countryside and keep horses and dogs. I will have to polish my English, which is nowhere near as fluent as yours, and adopt an accent that sounds like a man being strangled, such as their aristocrats use, but all in all I think it a good plan.
Every day he strolled up to the Alexander Palace to deliver a letter to Trina and receive the one Tatiana had written for him. Afterwards he walked along the road outside hoping in vain for a glimpse of her. He often saw Tsar Nicholas cycling around on an old bicycle, wearing a workman’s jacket and cap like a country peasant. Sometimes he was chopping wood or breaking ice, but always his head was down and he did not notice Dmitri pass by. From the newspapers he knew that Nicholas and Alexandra were under house arrest to prevent them trying to retake the throne, but to Dmitri’s eyes it did not look as if they had any such intention.
The gates were patrolled by revolutionary guards, identifiable by their badges showing a factory worker carrying a red flag. Dmitri could tell they were inexperienced from the awkward way they held their fixed bayonets, and their jumpiness at any sudden noise: these were eager new recruits jumping on a bandwagon. Townspeople stopped to gawp through the fence and one whispered to him that the guards would take you inside the grounds for a glimpse of the family for a fee of twenty roubles. Tatiana had not mentioned this in her letters and the disrespect horrified him. It was as if they were exotic creatures in a zoo rather than monarchs from a centuries-old dynasty.
Spring came, the snow and ice began to melt and trees burst into leaf almost overnight. Every day he missed Tatiana more and his fears for her increased. Why had nothing happened? Still there was no word of when the ship might arrive to take her family to England and, unable to bear the suspense, Dmitri made an appointment to visit the British ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, in St Petersburg. He used his status as a member of the royal escort to gain admittance, which was risky, because identifying yourself as a Romanov acolyte was inadvisable in the current climate. It was better to be a worker. If anyone asked, Dmitri claimed to be a common soldier of lowly birth.
Recently his mother had written that his father had been questioned by revolutionary guards and told he might have to stand trial on charges that were not yet specified. How could a general who had earned so many medals for service to his country be under suspicion? Anyone wealthy or well connected seemed to be a target. Many of the Romanovs’ friends had been arrested: Anna Vyrubova, Alexandra’s lady-in-waiting, was being held in the Peter and Paul Fortress, and several members of the extended family were under house arrest in case they tried to help Nicholas regain his throne.
‘I’m afraid that the British Foreign Secretary has recommended that the Russian government make some other plan for the future residence of their imperial majesties,’ Ambassador Buchanan told him, peering through half-spectacles. ‘The difficulties of transporting them to London in wartime proved insurmountable. Besides, the new government are not keen for the Tsar and Tsarina to leave, since they are privy to so many of the country’s war secrets. You understand, there is nothing more I can do …’
Dmitri was horrified. ‘You must help! What will become of them without the aid of their British cousins? There are calls in the press for them to stand trial as traitors to their country. Who knows what might happen?’
The man shifted in his seat. ‘We will, of course, continue to apply pressure and ask that they are treated with humanity, but as a rule the British government tries not to interfere in the affairs of another sovereign nation.’
Dmitri felt a clenching of his gut, and a sense of dread that made his heart heavy as he left. If the British would not save them, then it was up to pro-monarchist Russians. He had located around twenty colleagues who promised to help but that was nowhere near enough to launch an armed rescue attempt and spirit the Romanovs out of the country. The railway workers were a militant bunch who would never allow them onto a train, and they had no hope of stealing a ship from the heavily guarded harbour. Besides, he remembered what had happened to Louis XVI of France and his wife Marie Antoinette after they tried to slip out of France in 1791 following the revolution there: they’d been intercepted, tried as traitors and beheaded. He shivered. If the Tsar and Tsarina were being accused of betraying their country, then it was important not to give the prosecutors any ammunition.
He did not tell Tatiana of his discovery, but he could sense from her letters that her mood was darkening.
The doctor tells us that Olga’s heart has been weakened by the measles, and Maria still cannot walk. I do my best to cheer the invalids by reading aloud to them, and in fair weather we take them out in wheelchairs to the formal gardens. We are allowed to wander deep into the wood, where it is quite wild. I avoid coming round the front of the house where people stare at us through the fence, but I would do so if I thought I would one day see your dear face there.
We have occasional visitors, but I do not wish you to become known to our revolutionary captors or else you might end up in prison, like poor dear Anna Vyrubova. How could they do that to a cripple? What treason could she possibly have committed?
Oh, Dmitri, I yearn for you with my entire soul. If we could but have five minutes alone … The thought of your passionate nature and fine mind, your sparkling eyes and strong arms, make me feel I can cope with anything so long as I am assured we will be together again some day soon.
Dmitri was encouraged to hear they were allowed to wander into the wood and it occurred to him that perhaps there was a chance he could meet her there. He borrowed a horse and rode around the edges of the palace grounds, looking for less well-defended points. He was able to make his way into Alexander Park through the graveyard for imperial horses and rode on past the farm to the woods, searching for a place where he might meet Tatiana. There was a gothic White Tower just five minutes from the front entrance of the palace, a place where servants used to sleep. It did not appear to be in use any more so he slipped inside and climbed the winding staircase to the sixth floor then walked out onto the turreted battlements. He could see across the park all the way to town. Would the guards let Tatiana walk that far? It was a short distance from the formal gardens. Perhaps she could try.
Rather than put his message into a letter, which might be intercepted, Dmitri asked Trina to tell Tatiana he would wait in the White Tower at ten o’clock each morning. If she was able to join him for a few minutes that would be wonderful, but he emphasised that she should not dream of putting herself in danger.