“Yes, he thought he saw a kikimora and found her wet footprints in his room,” Miles said. He walked over to a pile of manuscripts on a table by the window, acting as if he had just noticed them. Very casually, he took one off the top and moved it to the bottom of the stack. That meant it was something he didn’t want either me or the tutor to read. It was probably some lurid, gothic-type horror story. He and Hap delighted in coming up with outrageous scenarios Miles could write.
Miles turned back to face us. “Monsieur Girard even saw her moving down the hall late one night. A small, dark shape scurrying away from his door.” I noticed that Stepan had his eyes fixed on the floor.
“Interesting.” Dmitri studied the room like he was trying to memorize it. He went over to a cupboard and opened it. I almost expected a deluge to fall from it, because as usual it was crammed full of a jumble of old games and books and art supplies.
“Stories about kikimoras can be quite frightening to the gullible,” Dmitri said as he reached in and pulled out a robe of blue silk with stars embroidered on it. The robe was one Miles used when he told fortunes. Dmitri laid it over a chair, then reached in the cabinet again and pulled a piece of black fabric from under a broken microscope. He held it up and examined it as if he’d never seen fabric before, and then put it over his shoulders like a cape.
“A little short for me,” he said. “My older sister was one of the gullible ones. My younger brother and I convinced her our house was haunted. It was too easy to do: strange noises in the night, wrapping ourselves in gray cloth and walking about, that sort of thing. Very childish of us, I know, and we later confessed when we saw how upset she was.” He pulled the fabric off and tossed it back inside along with the robe, shutting the door.
I’d never seen all three brothers rendered speechless at the same time. I was impressed despite myself. Maybe Dmitri Antonovich wasn’t just full of book knowledge. Though, looking at him, I found it hard to imagine him as a boy playing pranks.
“Why don’t we talk for a bit about where you are in your studies?” Dmitri asked, as if he hadn’t noticed the boys’ reaction.
“Where you actually are,” I said to them. “Not claiming you haven’t learned something you’ve covered so it will be easy for you the second time around.”
“We only did that once,” Hap said, sounding indignant. “And that was three or four tutors ago.”
Miles picked up another piece of paper, crumpled it up, and threw it in the direction of the fire. It didn’t make it that far, but Hap scooped it up and tossed it the rest of the way.
“Yes, don’t believe everything my sister says,” Miles added. “She’s actually the real troublemaker of the family. Would you believe she once ran away, intending to join the circus?”
I put up my hands. “Miles! Stop. I’m sure Dmitri Antonovich doesn’t want to hear our family stories. That was years ago.”
Stepan piped up. “Maybe the tutor wouldn’t want to hear, but he might like to see you juggle on horseback and on a unicycle. That’s her talent. She was sure the circus would give her a job. Show him how you can juggle, Lottie.”
I closed my eyes for a moment and forced myself to take a couple of deep breaths. When I opened them, I saw Dmitri looking at me.
His mouth twitched like he was trying not to smile. “That is quite a talent,” he said. “I’d like to see that sometime.”
I absolutely could not picture myself juggling in front of him. I’d drop everything.
Miles’s attention was caught by something out the window. “Charlotte, your friend is in the courtyard.” He turned around and smiled at me. “When are you going to tell us about your mysterious peasant?”
“Don’t be such a snob.” I needed to get downstairs and see if the man I’d seen earlier was still watching the house. Ivan would have to be careful when he left if the man was still there. “He’s not my mysterious peasant. Mr. Sokolov, my brother is just trying to stir up trouble. Miles, you know very well it’s Ivan.”
“It’s mysterious that Ivan comes all the way to Petrograd to visit you.”
I didn’t like the sly tone in Miles’s voice. I hadn’t realized he’d been paying attention to Ivan’s visits. “Stop acting like you don’t know he delivers the wood.” Miles could be so infuriating at times. I knew I shouldn’t let him bait me. It was always better to ignore him. “I have to go to the hospital, so I won’t be back until after dinner,” I said. “Hap, I’m counting on you to let Dmitri Antonovich know the schedule.”
When I opened the door to leave, Nika tumbled inside. I knew what she’d been doing.
“Nika, you shouldn’t eavesdrop!” I scolded.
She got up and smiled. “I’m not Nika. I’m Sophie.”
The twins never gave up trying to fool us. “You are definitely Nika. Where is Sophie?” I asked.
Sophie poked her head around the door. “I’m here, but I’m Nika. We wanted to meet the new tutor.”
I noticed that Polina had succeeded in getting them dressed, but they still had orange hands and hair. “Where’s Polina?” I asked, wondering how they’d managed to escape from her again.
“Nika, I mean Sophie, spilled milk on her,” Sophie said. “She had to go change.”
The best way to get them back to Polina without an argument would be to give them a look at the tutor. “Dmitri Antonovich, may I present my sisters, Sofiya Feodorovna Cherkasskaya and Veronika Feodorovna Cherkasskaya,” I said. “They’re a little hard to tell apart if you don’t know them, but Nika has a scar on her cheek from falling out of a tree she wasn’t supposed to climb.”
The two giggled. Dmitri bowed. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, ladies.”
The twins’ eyes widened. Nika grabbed Sophie’s hand. “You have a nice nose,” Nika blurted out, and then she dragged Sophie out of the room.
Dmitri looked totally bemused. “I’ve never been complimented on my nose before,” he said.
He actually did have a rather nice nose. “Nika has an odd fixation on noses,” I told him. “Don’t mind them. I’m sorry they seem to have lost their manners. I’m sure they’ll be back, but just send them away if they are nuisances. Now I really do have to go.”
“Charlotte, wait,” Miles said. “Have you seen Raisa lately?”
Something was definitely odd. No one knew I had planned to see Raisa the night before except Raisa. It was too much of a coincidence for Miles to bring up her name when he hadn’t spoken of her for months. She said she’d seen him, but I couldn’t believe she’d have mentioned we were going to meet. It would put Miles in danger to know about any of our black-market arrangements. I couldn’t ask him about it in front of Dmitri, though. I’d have to get to the bottom of it later when I could talk to Miles alone.
“I did, as a matter of fact,” I told him. “We met for tea and she gave me a book of poems she thought you’d like. It’s in my room if you want it.”
He looked away. “I was just curious. When we were working on the magic trick, I remembered how much she liked helping us. I’m not much interested in poetry these days, but maybe I’ll take a look at the book later.”