M, King's Bodyguard: A Novel

1

It was a miserable day in Walham Green, gloomy and wind-lashed and rain-soaked, and it seemed every pedestrian for miles had taken shelter in this Lyons Tea Room. The windows streamed with condensation, and the air was thick with hot breath and the smell of damp wool and camphor and boiled mutton. I’d been lucky to get a table to myself, and I was keeping it to myself, spreading out my legs and seeing off with a cold stare any customer who dared to approach. Selfish of me, perhaps, but I was on the Queen’s business and expecting a guest. The waitress, a thin, nervous woman in her thirties, looked worn-out and listless, much like the paper garlands that still festooned the place three weeks after Christmas. She could barely move between the tables, the place was so packed with customers and their sodden overcoats and dripping umbrellas. Stopping by my table she topped up my cup hastily, slopping tea into the saucer, but I made no remark. There are times when it serves to make a scene and times to bite your tongue.

Jakob was late. He was always late. I was used to it, and I understood his reasons: he hated me, and everything I stood for, and himself for associating with me. I found it amusing all the same that he always contrived to be exactly fifteen minutes late. Even his contempt was precisely measured.

And on the dot he appeared, wrestling with the door handle while rain poured off the brim of his grubby slouch hat and a gust of wind tried to snatch the portfolio from under his arm. When at last he wrenched the door open it forced a loud brassy jangle from the bell, causing the young Latvian to freeze momentarily in the doorway. His eyes darted right and left, as if waiting for everyone to stop talking and turn and stare. He was worried about being seen in my company, of course, but I was just as concerned about that as he was. That was why I’d been seated here facing the door for over an hour, discreetly watching the customers come and go, checking for familiar faces.

But the hubbub continued unbroken; no one noticed Jakob or cared. He quickly relaxed and stepped in, pulling the door shut behind him and shaking the rain off his hat. His face was as pale and pinched as ever, and when his coal-black eyes met mine, he nodded, almost imperceptibly. I smiled, and it wasn’t just to put him at his ease. I was genuinely pleased to see the lad; I liked Jakob, for all his wrong-headed ideas. I liked his intelligence, and his passion, and his sincerity. All the things that made him dangerous, in fact.

He started making his way over. Barely in his twenties, he was so painfully thin he hardly needed to turn sideways to squeeze through the rows of seated customers, but all the same he jostled a few elbows and knocked a few hats askew with his portfolio. He ignored the angry stares; Jakob often mocked the English for their reluctance to complain even when they were perfectly entitled to, and he had a point. When at last he arrived at my table he did not greet me or offer to shake hands, but merely leaned his portfolio up against the table legs, hooked his hat on the nearest rack and unbuttoned his shabby overcoat. The rain had soaked through its thin material and into the worn jacket beneath. He’ll catch his death, I thought. I caught the waitress’s eye and summoned her over with a lift of my chin.

Jakob, what will you have?

I am not hungry, he said, shrugging. His words were addressed to the air rather than either of us.

Away out of that, I said. You look half-starved, and you’re soaked through. Is that mutton stew I can smell? This to the waitress.

Not sure if we have any left, sir.

A bowl of that, if you do. Otherwise some of the oxtail soup.

She nodded, and with a sharp glance at Jakob—his accent had clearly piqued her curiosity—she waded through the throng towards the kitchen.

So, Jakob, how have you been?

The same. Coughing my lungs out. His eyes flickered round the room again, checking for surveillance; old habits die hard. This city stinks. I don’t know how you people can breathe the air.

It was bad the other day, right enough. Fog mixed with smoke. A proper London Particular. All the same, I dare say you can breathe more easily over here than back home.

He didn’t smile, but he did meet my gaze at last.

And how have you been, Mr. Melville? Cracked many heads this week?

I have not. Sure I employ people to do that for me.

Yes, I have seen them. Hanging around in the street outside our meetings. Sitting in the back of the hall.

Don’t worry. If they need to crack any heads, they’ll be sure to crack yours too. Brushing tea from my moustache, I went on, So, were you at the club last night?

My lack of subtlety seemed to amuse him, and he smiled at last.

You have to ask? Were your agents taking the night off? You know, I thought the hall was not so full as usual.

And who was the speaker? I already knew the answer, but I wanted to put Jakob at ease. He wouldn’t feel any reluctance telling me information I could easily have picked up from a handbill in Soho.

The speaker? Some German fool, sneered Jakob. Rocker. Calls himself a ‘progressive anarchist.’

And what do you call him?

A cretin. A liberal democrat in revolutionary clothing. Jakob’s smile must have been handsome once, before the Tsar’s policemen broke his teeth with their boots. He claims the principles of anarchy are not fixed but must be revised in response to what he calls historical circumstance.

A pragmatist, then.

A bourgeois reactionary. Making his excuses in advance for betraying the workers. There is only one historical circumstance, the oppression of the proletariat, and that has not changed for a thousand years—

Just as he was working himself up into a fine passion, Jakob fell silent, his face reddening, and looked away. He felt foolish, I suppose, for lecturing me on revolutionary theory. Detective Chief Superintendent William Melville, head of Scotland Yard’s Special Branch and occasional bodyguard to the British Royal Family, was hardly the type to be swayed by Marxist rhetoric. I raised an eyebrow, as if he’d made a valid point I needed to consider. I wasn’t about to argue with him, but I didn’t want to patronise him either, and it was a relief when the waitress banged down a plate of bread on the table between the two of us and a steaming bowl of mutton stew in front of Jakob. Forgetting his embarrassment, the young Latvian snatched up his spoon and dug in, wolfing down the meat and potatoes though they were so hot they must have scalded his mouth. The lad was famished. While he worked away, I stirred another spoonful of sugar into my tea and watched him from the corner of my eye. Presently he stopped for breath and wiped his chin on the sleeve of his jacket.

I did see one new face, he volunteered, his mouth half-full. I let him read surprise and curiosity on my face, and he hurried on, gratified. "An American, I think, though German or Dutch by birth, judging by his accent. I heard him asking Rocker for a copy of that so-called newspaper of his, Germinal."

And what did he look like, this American? I was curious to hear if Jakob’s description matched the one I’d already heard; Sergeant Dawes hadn’t mentioned any accent.

Thirty-one, thirty-two perhaps? Not so tall as you, or so big. Brown hair, like that man—Jakob nodded at a slight, balding customer seated at the next table—brown eyes, full moustache, no beard. His clothes were interesting.

Interesting how?

They were old and worn, like this—he held out the sleeve of his jacket—but he was no pauper. He was too well fed. His hair was too well cut.

Military?

He looked too intelligent to be a soldier.

A reporter, perhaps?

He took no notes. Not that informers do.

Interesting. I’ll make some enquiries.

I felt Jakob peering at me as I sipped my tea. He was trying to make out if I was lying—perhaps I knew very well who this stranger was, and I was testing him. Then he seemed to decide that he could not tell, and that it did not matter. It was merely a crumb of information, worthless to his own cause, but something that I might value.

Any old friends? I enquired, as if I was worried about him being lonely. There was an instant of hesitation before he shrugged, his eyes flicking away. I didn’t press him: the details he was omitting carried their own significance.

That smells good, I said, nodding at the bowl. Jakob grunted and resumed eating, and I watched him until he’d cleaned the dish and was wiping the last of the gravy up with a heel of bread.

Another?

The anarchist shook his head. I am full, he said. Thank you. No sooner had he spoken than he blinked self-consciously, and almost bit his tongue. I stifled a sigh of pity. For a moment there he had lapsed into good manners, manners that had no doubt been beaten into him as a child. But now he felt ashamed of his petit-bourgeois upbringing, and of being so polite to me, an agent of the State. Mother of God, but these idealists make it so hard on themselves. They may sneer at those of us who have faith, but at least we Catholics can get absolution for our mistakes; they flog themselves daily with scourges of their own making.

So, was there any other business? I asked. Jakob frowned. At your meeting.

No. Yes. We held a collection. For the family of Gaetano Bresci.

The assassin? The one who shot the King of Italy?

Jakob snorted. Assassin! The man who acted when others merely talked. For that he gets life in prison, in a cage too small for a dog.

I wasn’t about to let that pass. He’s lucky they didn’t hang him. He murdered King Humbert in front of two thousand people.

And why do you suppose he committed this outrage? Jakob seethed with sudden indignation. King Umberto’s troops opened fire on workers in Milan, protesting about the price of bread. Six hundred people died—men, women, children. Who was arrested for that? Who went to prison? Not the General who gave the order—noble King Umberto gave him a medal. But of course, for Mr. Policeman Melville, the life of one noble parasite is worth more than the lives of a thousand workers.

That was a shocking business, right enough, I conceded.

No, for the bourgeoisie, that was business as usual.

Touché, I thought, and I nearly smiled, until I saw Jakob’s deadly serious face. He was driven by rage at brutality and injustice, and that was understandable—so was I, at his age. Indeed, I still was, but he could never grasp that, and I wasn’t going to try and persuade him. If he ever felt I was patronising him, or trying to manipulate him, or even acting directly on his information, disgust at himself would make him turn on me—perhaps drive him to prove his devotion to the Cause. Right now Jakob believed he was selling worthless gossip in return for a hot meal. His task was to make a fool of me, the infamous Melville, scourge of European anarchists; my task was to let him think he’d succeeded.

How’s the painting going? I peered over the edge of the tabletop at his portfolio, still propped against the table leg. It was meant to look like leather, thanks to the embossed oilskin glued to the cardboard, but the thin veneer was coming unstuck with damp and peeling away at the corners. Has the Muse been good to you?

Jakob shrugged in an attempt at modesty. I have been working with charcoal. It has that essence of line.

And it’s a damn’ sight cheaper than oils, I thought, but what I said was, Show me.

I cleared away the crockery, perching it on an empty table nearby, while Jakob picked up his portfolio, undid the loop of string that held it shut and opened it out across the table. The topmost sketch was of a horse in harness, rearing in fear or pain, the looming bulk of a pantechnicon behind it, the driver a shadowy figure raising his whip. I fell silent a moment, in sincere admiration. Jakob had real talent; this image was simple but powerful, and the way he evoked movement with a single swish of charcoal was masterful. For once I didn’t have to dissemble.

I see what you mean about essence. This is excellent. The driver there—he’s just a notion, but you can see the power in his arm, the cruelty…

The next sketch was of the same scene, but a few minutes later: the horse, still trapped between the shafts, had fallen to its front knees, its neck and head twisted back in agony. Its teeth were clenched on the bit as the driver laid into it with his whip.

Is this taken from life?

I saw it happen, in Haymarket, last week. The driver, he flogged and flogged the horse until it was nearly dead, and no one even tried to stop him.

There’s a scene like that in Dostoyevsky, isn’t there? Flogging a half-dead horse.

There are scenes like this everywhere, said Jakob. His look said the rest: that the workers of the world were the horse being flogged, and men like me wielded the whip.

I’ll give you a guinea for the two of them, I said. Jakob gasped in disbelief, God help him.

You like them?

‘Like’ is not the word. But they’re very striking. I fished inside my coat for my pocketbook. Jakob, recovering from his surprise, affected an air of mocking cynicism.

Where will you hang them? In your office in Scotland Yard?

I’ll hang them at home. Sure it’s my own money. I leafed through the notes in my pocketbook, and Jakob tried not to stare at them hungrily. It was my own money, in the sense that I didn’t have to account for it. All the same, I kept a careful record of my payments to informants; many an honest copper has come to grief, accused of having his fingers in the till. And a few dishonest ones too, admittedly.

Tell you what, I said, a pound and ten shillings, and you can pick up the bill.

I laid a banknote and two crowns on top of the sketches and tucked my pocketbook back inside my jacket. Jakob picked up the money and stuffed it into a pocket, and I got the strong impression he was fighting the urge to whoop with joy. And mind you leave a tip, I added.

He looked insulted. You think I would cheat a worker out of her earnings?

You might decide to make a contribution to the Cause on her behalf. I tugged my watch from my waistcoat pocket and checked it. I’d best be on my way. You’re a damned fine artist, Jakob. I think I prefer your work in oils, but that’s just me.

I heard a rumour, said Jakob suddenly. His tone of indifference rang so false I immediately raised my guard.

What rumour would that be?

That your Queen is sick.

I shrugged. She has a cold, is all I heard.

Please pass on to her my very best wishes for a full recovery. He smiled. That needled me; I knew the old lady, and I liked her, and I didn’t take kindly to his sarcasm. I responded with some of my own.

Very touching. Coming from an anarchist.

It was Jakob’s turn to shrug, and my turn to be surprised: I saw now he’d meant it. I am a revolutionary socialist. And we are grateful to her, my friends and I. Like you say, we can breathe here. Meet, talk, exchange ideas. England is not Russia, where such things—or being related to someone who does such things—can get you jailed, tortured, shot, buried in lime. No trial, no appeal. Here we do not fear these things. The wise bird does not foul such a nest.

Nice of you to say so, I thought. But if you and your friends ever did win power over here, you’d be shooting and burying men like me, and you’d be extra generous with the lime.

Hm. If I’m up at the Palace anytime soon I’ll pass on the message, I said.

I pushed my chair back and rose, glancing over my shoulder first to be sure I didn’t squash anyone seated behind me. I’ve always been big-boned and heavy, as deep as I’m wide, and in my fifties I wasn’t getting any lighter. As I shrugged on my overcoat and retrieved my bowler, Jakob rolled the sketches up.

The next meeting is in March, he said casually. The eleventh.

Then let’s meet on the twelfth.

Here?

Not here, no. There’s a new ABC up the road in Hammersmith, top of King Street. Same time, all right? I tipped my hat to him. No handshakes. So long, now, Jakob. Take care.

I hope Mrs. Melville likes the sketches. Jakob grinned, with his broken teeth.

Oh, she will, I’m sure.

—

The last squall had died away and the rain was easing off as I headed up Fulham Broadway. On the corner a piano-organ, cranked by an ancient grinder bent nearly in two, clattered into life with a tinny rendering of a Strauss polka. Urchins in threadbare jerseys crowded round, bare feet splashing in the puddles, to stare and laugh at the broken-tailed monkey that was clambering back and forth on top of the instrument. The wretched creature was fastened to the piano-organ’s lid with a thin chain, and it rattled a dented tin mug at the children and me. I fished in my pocket for a threepenny bit and tossed it to the monkey, who caught the coin deftly in the mug and bared its teeth in what I supposed was meant to be a smile of thanks. The old man cranking the handle tugged the brim of his cap as I passed.

So Jakob and his friends had been speculating about the Queen’s health? That unsettled me. The general public had no idea how poorly she was, but my own sources at her country residence, Osborne House, told me she was still in a wheelchair and had little appetite. She was nearly eighty-two now, and for a woman of her age there was no such thing as a simple cold; then again, she was a tough old bird who had seen off worse.

Farther up Fulham Broadway a street-sweeper was shovelling horse-dung into his barrow. I paused by his cart and pulled the rolled-up sketches from under my arm. The money would keep Jakob and his friends in bread and beer for a week or two, and maybe help to pay for a few seditious Russian pamphlets; more to the point, it would keep the Latvian on my hook for when I needed to reel him in. As it happened, I did like Jakob’s drawings, very much; but I’d lied to the lad. Mrs. Melville would hate them. I looked around to ensure no one was watching, twisted the sketches up into a tight wad and tossed them into the street-sweeper’s barrow.

Met at Walham Green with Jakob Piotr, sometimes known as Piotr the Painter. For the usual inducements he briefed me on the meeting the night before at the Anarchist Club in Soho, which was addressed by Rudolf Rocker (see separate file, R /M/00/00331). Confirmed Sgt Dawes’s report of a previously unknown attendant, possibly American. Piotr claimed not to know him either. Insp Quinn is cross-checking physical description with port records.

Notably Piotr did not mention the presence of Alexandrovich (see separate file, R /M/94) at the same meeting, though he and Piotr conversed at length. This suggests Alexandrovich’s current visit may indeed be connected to the planned shipment of weapons to Latvian rebels via Hartlepool.

Will assign Sgts Dawes and Willerton to covertly monitor Alexandrovich’s movements.

There was a sharp rap at the door, and I quickly covered up my notebook, though I knew from the knock it was Constable Jenkins. He’d been with Special Branch twenty years, but the fewer people I needed to trust the simpler my life was.

Come in.

Sorry to interrupt, sir. Jenkins, once a cavalry officer, still fought the urge to stand to attention and salute. The AC has asked to see you, urgent.

—

Assistant Commissioner Robert Anderson was my direct boss; ten years my senior, he was an Irishman like me, but there the resemblance ended. Short and wiry, he was a staunch Presbyterian, with a white beard that made him look like an Old Testament prophet, which was no doubt the intent. He had been a moderately famous barrister in Dublin when he was recruited by the British government to advise on the Fenian threat. I had joined the new Special Branch around the same time, and my colleagues and I quickly put paid to that particular Fenian threat, without any help from Anderson. But by then he had got his feet under the government table and found the life to his liking. With flattery and flummery he had inveigled his way onto various other official committees and boards, and over decades had slithered up the greasy pole to his present position. He had no direct experience of police work, whereas I had been a copper for nearly thirty years, most of it on the street. That fact seemed to irk him, judging by his constant need to assert his authority.

William. Take a seat. I left word for you to attend immediately upon your return.

And so I have, sir.

Might I ask what business was so vital it took you away from your desk?

I was meeting a source. Routine, but necessary.

You’re head of Special Branch. It’s past time you learned to delegate.

Our meetings seemed to be moulded on this pattern—a minor scolding, followed by instructions on how to do my job, concluding with orders to do what I was already doing. Talking to informers is one task that can’t easily be delegated, but Anderson didn’t know that, and he wouldn’t have accepted it if I’d told him.

You’re right, of course, I said.

Hm. He picked up a telegram from his desk, but did not show it to me. Your presence is required at Osborne House, by His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

Osborne House was Queen Victoria’s country retreat; I had often worked as bodyguard to the Queen and Prince Albert, but why was I needed at Osborne House? Unless young Jakob’s guess had been right, after all?

Her Majesty?

Is gravely ill, according to her doctor.

That is sad news indeed, sir.

From his account, I fear the good Lord will gather Her Majesty to His bosom within the week. Anderson, who had published thoughtful tracts on God’s Purpose for Mankind, was fond of such pious utterances. I was religious myself, but I tried not to let it interfere with my work; indeed, I suspected one reason Anderson invoked the Lord so often was to remind me of my place—a Catholic peasant promoted far above his station.

It would appear, Anderson went on, that Dr. Reid saw fit to send a telegram directly to His Imperial Majesty Kaiser Wilhelm. The Kaiser has cancelled all his plans and is making his way direct to the Isle of Wight. He is expected to arrive tomorrow afternoon.

It was common knowledge that the German Kaiser worshipped his grandmother Victoria, who returned his affection with more warmth than she had ever shown her son Albert. It was also common knowledge that the Kaiser and his uncle Prince Albert despised each other. But not so much, surely, that Albert would need a bodyguard?

I’ll finish my business here and catch the first train down in the morning, I said.

Be back as soon as you can. Arrangements must be made for the funeral.

Arrangements are in hand, sir. We have contingency plans. Detective Inspector Quinn has all the details.

This matter is not one I expect you to delegate, DCS Melville. It’s not merely the security arrangements—full consideration must be given to precedence and protocol.

Precedence, of course. The Assistant Commissioner attached the utmost importance to the hierarchy of aristocrats and dignitaries, their ranks and titles and formal salutations.

Anyway, the sooner you leave…

The sooner you’ll be back, he almost said, before realising it was nonsense. To spare his blushes, I stood. Sir.

2

Osborne House? said Amelia.

I’m catching the first train in the morning.

We were seated at dinner, the children conversing in hushed tones about some American dancer called Isadora Duncan my elder boy William had seen perform at a friend’s house. Daring, William had called her, which I presumed meant indecent. Before I could ask exactly which friend it was whose parents laid on such exotic entertainment, Amelia seized on my remark.

May the good Lord preserve her, said Amelia.

Who? I said.