The Bedbug Read Online Free
Author: Peter Day
more select items eventually found their way to the Norwegian National Gallery in Oslo. 13
At this point, after about fifty years in exile, Platon decided it was time to regain his Russian nationality and wrote directly to Tsar Nicholas II for permission to return to the land of his birth. His application was supported by the Russian ambassador in London, Count Benckendorff, one of the architects of the Triple Entente that bound together Britain, France and Russia against the imperial designs of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
The sequel to that treaty, precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, was the Great War that tore Europe asunder. It rent the Ustinov family in three conflicting directions. Their days in London before war was declared were the last they would spend together.
CHAPTER 4: BOLSHEVIKS
E ven before the wedding, Klop had been increasingly nervous about the authorities. A well-wisher in the Soviet Foreign Office warned them that the Cheka – the Communist secret police – were investigating Klop’s credentials. He had told them, fairly unconvincingly, that he was a greengrocer’s assistant from Amsterdam. He could hardly admit to being a journalist and any suggestion that he was gathering secret intelligence for the German government would have been fatal. He had also begun dealing in black market art, hoping to make a small fortune to start married life in the West.
Nadia, who only seems to have learned that his visit was not solely for the purpose of finding his family after they escaped, was surely being disingenuous years later when she wrote: ‘Maltzan asked Klop to keep his eyes open should he succeed in getting into Russia. He did not mean spying of course, only wanting him to report on the whole atmosphere and conditions inside Russia.’ 40
In such a time of turmoil and mutual suspicion, espionage was exactly what Ago von Maltzan had in mind and the preparations could have left Klop in no doubt. He had travelled on a boat taking Russian soldiers and prisoners of war home. Friedrich Rosen obtained a passport for him, in the name of Oustinoff rather than the Germanic ‘von Ustinow’. It is not clear what nationality Klop assumed or whether this was an early example of the Nansen passport, introduced by the Norwegian explorer,diplomat and commissioner for refugees Fridjof Nansen for use as travel authority for the many stateless displaced people milling around the continent. Klop passed himself off either as a returning Russian – difficult when his command of the language was less than perfect – or a Dutch trader. He travelled light, a solitary bag with few clothes and gifts of tinned meat and chocolate that might smooth away some of the minor obstructions to his progress. For negotiating the major obstacles he had gold coins sewn into the lining of his coat. The ship dropped them at Hungerborg near Narva, on the Estonian border, where they began a tediously slow train journey. The full extent of the famine that was gripping the Russian countryside quickly became apparent as starving peasants lined the tracks begging the passengers for scraps of food. A rumour rippled through the train to the effect that able-bodied men would not be allowed to disembark until they got to Moscow, where they would immediately be pressed into military service. As the train slowed outside St Petersburg, Klop leapt down to the tracks and completed the journey on foot.
Klop arrived on 7 May and set about ingratiating himself with officials of the Cheka and the Foreign Office in the course of searching for his family. At the Cheka his contact was an official named Rougaev who impressed Klop with his bevy of secretaries. They obeyed his every word and appeared not to object to sitting on his lap or being slapped on the backside. Klop was amused to be offered fish and potato soup by his host, who served it by hand, disguising the smell of fish with liberal application
At this point, after about fifty years in exile, Platon decided it was time to regain his Russian nationality and wrote directly to Tsar Nicholas II for permission to return to the land of his birth. His application was supported by the Russian ambassador in London, Count Benckendorff, one of the architects of the Triple Entente that bound together Britain, France and Russia against the imperial designs of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
The sequel to that treaty, precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, was the Great War that tore Europe asunder. It rent the Ustinov family in three conflicting directions. Their days in London before war was declared were the last they would spend together.
CHAPTER 4: BOLSHEVIKS
E ven before the wedding, Klop had been increasingly nervous about the authorities. A well-wisher in the Soviet Foreign Office warned them that the Cheka – the Communist secret police – were investigating Klop’s credentials. He had told them, fairly unconvincingly, that he was a greengrocer’s assistant from Amsterdam. He could hardly admit to being a journalist and any suggestion that he was gathering secret intelligence for the German government would have been fatal. He had also begun dealing in black market art, hoping to make a small fortune to start married life in the West.
Nadia, who only seems to have learned that his visit was not solely for the purpose of finding his family after they escaped, was surely being disingenuous years later when she wrote: ‘Maltzan asked Klop to keep his eyes open should he succeed in getting into Russia. He did not mean spying of course, only wanting him to report on the whole atmosphere and conditions inside Russia.’ 40
In such a time of turmoil and mutual suspicion, espionage was exactly what Ago von Maltzan had in mind and the preparations could have left Klop in no doubt. He had travelled on a boat taking Russian soldiers and prisoners of war home. Friedrich Rosen obtained a passport for him, in the name of Oustinoff rather than the Germanic ‘von Ustinow’. It is not clear what nationality Klop assumed or whether this was an early example of the Nansen passport, introduced by the Norwegian explorer,diplomat and commissioner for refugees Fridjof Nansen for use as travel authority for the many stateless displaced people milling around the continent. Klop passed himself off either as a returning Russian – difficult when his command of the language was less than perfect – or a Dutch trader. He travelled light, a solitary bag with few clothes and gifts of tinned meat and chocolate that might smooth away some of the minor obstructions to his progress. For negotiating the major obstacles he had gold coins sewn into the lining of his coat. The ship dropped them at Hungerborg near Narva, on the Estonian border, where they began a tediously slow train journey. The full extent of the famine that was gripping the Russian countryside quickly became apparent as starving peasants lined the tracks begging the passengers for scraps of food. A rumour rippled through the train to the effect that able-bodied men would not be allowed to disembark until they got to Moscow, where they would immediately be pressed into military service. As the train slowed outside St Petersburg, Klop leapt down to the tracks and completed the journey on foot.
Klop arrived on 7 May and set about ingratiating himself with officials of the Cheka and the Foreign Office in the course of searching for his family. At the Cheka his contact was an official named Rougaev who impressed Klop with his bevy of secretaries. They obeyed his every word and appeared not to object to sitting on his lap or being slapped on the backside. Klop was amused to be offered fish and potato soup by his host, who served it by hand, disguising the smell of fish with liberal application
Readers choose
J. F. Jenkins
Evelyn Vaughn
J.M. Hayes
Arlette Lees
Christopher Rowley
Andie Lea
Michelle Sagara
Bette Lee Crosby
G. A. McKevett