Three shadowy figures, two men and a woman, emerged from the trees. Count Clitovsky introduced them as Dimitri Bollokov, Sophia Testlikova and Peter Krapotkin. They were formerly students from St Petersburg, radicalised during the revolution of 1905, now in their twenties, thin and poorly fed, and dressed in black. They cast their eyes over the visitors with surly suspicion.
"This is my niece, Lady Sally Rudston-Chichester from Rudston Hall in England," said Count Clitovsky, introducing his guests.
Lady Sally rose to her feet, teetering on her boots, worse for wear for the many shots of vodka. It was lucky that, unusually for her, she was wearing practical footwear as, if she had her trademark heels on, she must surely have toppled into them.
She thrust her breasts out and gave them a lopsided grin. She wielded her formidable powers of charm and sexual allure to engage them and win them over. That was easy for the male members of the band as, however radical their beliefs, Lady Sally usually found her dominatrix persona, not to mention her huge breasts, projected a powerful argument.
"How intriguing. I've always maintained an interest in radical ideas. You must tell me what you believe in."
They were wary at first, given her obvious wealth and aristocratic voice, but she encouraged them with attentive nods and alert eyes.
The one called Dimitri Bollokov argued that the peasantry could become a revolutionary vanguard, by organising themselves into communes and sharing redistributed land to become autonomous collectives.
"How fascinating," said Lady Sally.
The one introduced as Sofia Testlikova talked of the need for free education for peasants and workers as a means of providing everybody with the tools to both understand and put into action revolutionary ideas. She argued passionately for the equality of women.
"Well yes, I'm all for that," agreed Lady Sally. "Indeed, I propose you go further. I extol the virtues of female supremacy and male submission of course and, as you can see, I put those principles into practise."
The last radical, a young man called Peter Krapotkin offered a critique of Darwin's theory of evolution. He argued that man's achievements were a result of co-operation not struggle, and that this communism of people would transform the development of mankind.
Lady Sally nodded enthusiastically as she listened to the young people's arguments.
"Do you have any bombs?"
There was silence.
Victoria rolled her eyes in alarm. She didn't like where this conversation was heading.
Lady Sally was capricious at the best of times but after a toxic combination of blueberry, damson, raspberry and bilberry vodkas, she had the potential to be positively dangerous.
"Well, we believe in taking action," offered Dimitri Bollokov.
"Perhaps I'm under a misapprehension, but I understood anarchists had bombs."
