“What’s Leningrad like?” Simon inquired. “As dreary as this place?”
“Worse, my friend; it is a dying city. As you may know, that part of Russia was wrested from the Swedes, and the city built by Peter the Great in an attempt to make Russia a maritime power. Since the Upper Baltic is frozen for a considerable portion of the year, that ambition has never been fully realized. Only the fact that it was the seat of Government for so long has maintained the prestige of the city. Now that Moscow is the capital once again, the life-blood has been drawn from Leningrad. These Kommissars are no fools; they know that all the wealth and fertility of Russia lies in the South, and it is here that they are making their great efforts for the future. The ‘Nevsky Prospekt’, the Piccadilly of old St. Petersburg, which used to be such a wonderful sight, is now dreary beyond description; filled with the same crowds that you see here, it is true, but lacking the bustle and vitality of these Moscow streets. Leningrad was stricken mortally on that dark night when Dimitry and Yousopoff pushed the still warm body of Rasputin under the ice of the Neva.”
“I suppose you’ve been to the American Embassy?”
“Yes, but they can tell us nothing that we do not already know. Rex arrived here on the 4th of December, did the usual round of sight-seeing, and left again on the 11th.”
“What do we do now?” Simon asked, thoughtfully.
“There is one possible line of inquiry which a friend of mine in the Italian Embassy suggested to me. It seems that there is a small ‘stoloveya’, that is, a restaurant of sorts, in the lower quarters of the town, where certain discontented elements in the population meet. There is nothing at all against them, you understand, or they would be arrested at once by the Ogpu, but it is thought that many of the habitués have counterrevolutionary sympathies.
“My friend was told that Rex was seen there one night during his stay; I thought that we also might pay a visit to this place. It is called the ‘Tavern of the Howling Wolf’. He may have gone there only out of curiosity, but, on the other hand, it is just possible that we might learn something.”
“Going to be a bit difficult, isn’t it?” Simon laughed. “I mean with these wretched guides about.”
The Duke smiled. “If it is agreeable to you, I thought that, for once, we might play truant this evening.”
“What — cut the theatre?”