Dimitri looked stricken, but Poppy was offended. “I think it’s very rude for Dr. Seaman to have waltzed away when he knew we wanted to meet with him. Couldn’t they have sent another doctor?”
Leave it to Poppy to feel like the aggrieved party. Dr. Seaman specialized in waterborne contagion and was the natural person for the government to send for such an outbreak, but his absence was a blow.
“What are we going to do now?” Dimitri’s whisper was harsh, but his eyes were panicked. According to the note, Dr. Seaman wouldn’t return to Washington for three days, and with each passing hour, the scandal of Dimitri’s humiliation might reach American shores.
Natalia shoved the note back into its envelope. “Let’s head to our suite and discuss it in private.”
It took three bellhops to wheel their luggage to the suite. Poppy had brought two steamer trunks for her day and evening gowns, plus ten hat boxes so that each gown had a coordinating hat.
Their suite was lavishly appointed with a parlor, a formal dining area, and a separate alcove for a tea table. They each had their own bedroom, but Natalia forced herself to sit with Poppy in the tea alcove while the bellhops and two ladies’ maids unpacked their clothing. Poppy chattered about the frumpy gown worn by a matron in the lobby while Natalia kept a worried eye trained on Dimitri as he paced before the windows. He wore a suit with a satin waistcoat and gold watch chain, looking every inch the European aristocrat, but she saw the vulnerability beneath the fine tailoring. He looked anxious as he rubbed his hands and adjusted the sleeves of his coat. His face twisted in disgust as he examined his wrists.
“Natalia, I don’t know the word in English for this, but Iget them when I am nervous,” he said, pulling back his cuffs to expose red, inflamed skin.
“It looks like hives,” she replied. Dimitri was usually so flagrantly charming that it hurt to see him this anxious. “Try to quit scratching.”
“It hurts when I scratch, but it hurts more when I don’t.”
“Let me send for a bowl of warm milk,” she said. “Soaking might help.”
He brightened. “Excellent idea! I always feel better when you take care of me.” He shucked his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, revealing the red splotches tracking up his arm. In short order, a bellhop arrived with a pitcher of warmed milk, and Natalia dipped handkerchiefs in it to lay across Dimitri’s forearms.
“I worry that news of my disgrace will leak before Dr. Seaman returns,” Dimitri said. “It will be hard to claim an upper hand from such a position. Natalia, you missed a spot on my elbow.”
“I can do a better job,” Poppy said.
“No, no. It feels better when Natalia does it. I think I need a manicure, as well. My cuticles are bad again.”
Natalia fixed the handkerchief and rubbed oil into his nails while she thought. Dr. Seaman’s absence was a problem, but she was clever and could adjust their plan of attack. Dimitri was right. It would be harder to make progress if his reputation was in tatters.
“What ifwereleased news of your disgrace to the press?” she suggested. “If we get ahead of the story, we can claim the moral high ground by revealing what happened.”
“Oh, please don’t!” Poppy gasped. “That would be a disaster. An embarrassment of epic proportions.”
Dimitri looked sick. “Look, my hives are getting worse even thinking about such a thing.”
It was true. Before her eyes, the red patches on Dimitri’s forearms darkened and grew larger. She sighed and dipped another handkerchief into the warmed milk to exchange it with a cooled cloth. She wouldn’t expose Dimitri without his consent,but she had to do something. She was a woman of status and connections. Surely she could use them to get the upper hand.
By the time the next batch of milk had cooled, she had a plan.
“I think we should go directly to Count Cassini at the Russian embassy,” she said. “Today, if possible.”
“Without Dr. Seaman?” Dimitri asked in surprise.
She nodded. “If I suggest the bank has misgivings about continued funding of the Trans-Siberian, he will fall over himself to accept an appointment with me.”
Dimitri shifted uneasily. “Count Cassini probably knows of my trial and public humiliation. I need more allies before he learns of my presence here.”
“He doesn’t need to know who you are,” she said. “I can introduce you by your patronym.” Like all Russian aristocrats, Dimitri had an impressively long name, a combination of his given name, his father’s name, and a collection of saint names, but there was no need to introduce him by that mouthful.
“My mother calls me Dimitri Mikhailovich when she is angry with me. It could work, but I still don’t like it.”
“Does Count Cassini speak English?” Poppy asked.
The innocent question seemed to make Dimitri wilt. He threw off the wet handkerchiefs and began pacing, flinging droplets of milk as he gestured.
“Count Cassini speaks English, French, German, Italian, and Chinese,” he said. “He is brilliant. It is said he has so many medals that when he stands beneath a chandelier, he glitters like the Milky Way. We don’t stand a chance of getting the better of him without more allies on our side.”
“We have thetruthon our side,” Natalia said. She tossed him a towel to dry his arms. It was time to prepare for battle. “If Count Cassini is so intelligent, he will fear you more than you fear him. The czar and his imperial forces silenced you once, but you have come six thousand miles, most of it alone, hungry, and driven by nothing but your need to survive long enough to shout your story to the world. You had nothing and nobody on your side, but not anymore. You have powerful friends behindyou, and today we begin backing Count Cassini into a corner and using him to turn the tide in our favor.”
