Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill - Plaidy Jean. Страница 87

Augustus was not married and his child was illegitimate.

His brothers consoled him, particularly the Prince of Wales.

'Ignore the ruling,' said the Prince. 'Set up house together. I will see that you are received wherever you wish to go and once I have ascended the throne ...'

Augstus thanked him, but he was bitterly unhappy.

Throughout the Court they discussed the case.

Then, it was said, if the Prince and Maria actually did go through a form of marriage they are not, by the law of the land, man and wife.

What could be clearer than that?

Lady Augusta belonged to one of the highest families in the land; she could trace her descent to royalty; and yet she was not acceptable because the King had not given his consent.

How much less acceptable would be Maria Fitzherbert, for her so-called husband was the Prince of Wales.

This was indeed a test case. Maria Fitzherbert would never be regarded in law as the Prince's wife.

No one was more aware of the implications than Maria herself, who saw clearly that she would never be acknowledged.

She was worried. Her position was becoming unendurable. The Prince was growing closer to Lady Jersey. She saw him rarely now, and when they did meet there was friction between

them. He, because he wished to placate his conscience, seemed eager to make a shrew of her; and she, anxious and fretful, could not control her temper.

The happy days were over. Crisis loomed ahead.

The Fateful Decision

The Prince drove his phaeton through the Park. People standing about in groups looked at him in silence. There were no cheers. How different it had become. He remembered how they used to jostle each other for a glimpse of him.

'God bless the Prince of Wales!' He had heard it so constantly that he had grown tired of it. How he would like to hear it now!

He heard a shout of 'Papist woman ...' and he urged the horses to a greater speed.

It had all changed. The people no longer loved him.

He called on Lady Jersey. When he had embraced her she regarded him with some amusement and asked him what had happened.

Happened?' he cried. 'What do you mean?'

'I can see you are disturbed. Pray tell me.'

She knelt at his feet and raised her beautiful eyes to his face in a gesture of mock supplication. How different from Maria who would have been truly concerned. But when he tried to imagine Maria in such a position he thought how ridiculous she would look. Frances was so willowy, so graceful.

'It's nothing,' he said. 'Merely that riding through the Park just now I thought the people looked hostile.'

Frances was on her feet and perching on the arm of his chair.

Maria would have soothed him. Frances said: 'Of course they are hostile! They're learning to hate Your Highness.'

She was indeed a disturbing woman—like a wasp ... no, a beautiful dragonfly whose wings are of the most exquisite colours, who flies and hovers with a fascinating grace and has a sting in the tail.

'Why in God's name?'

'Very, very simple. Because you have displeased them.'

'I ... what have I done to them? I have always smiled on them, talked to them whenever possible. I suppose it is my mother's spies who have been circulating stories about me.'

Frances smiled. She was, in a manner of speaking, one of those spies, for Lady Harcourt had conveyed to her the Queen's wishes. How clever of her to be the friend of the Queen and the inamorata of the Prince of Wales ... all at the same time.

'You have provided the material for those spies to work on, my dear one.'

'I, Frances? By God, you go too far.'

'That is why you love me,' she told him. 'I go that little farther ... in all things. Is it not so?'

'Frances, you are a devil.'

'So much more interesting than the angels, do you not agree?'

'Oh, stop this. What can I do? Do you know at one time they only had to see my face to set them cheering.'

'I know, I know. But then you had not accumulated a mountain of debts ... or they didn't know of it.'

'I had. I have always accumulated debts. It's due to the miserable allowance I'm given.'

'The first time they're lenient. Prince Charming ... dear extravagant Prince Charming! But even Princes can bore with repetition.'

But she was not eager to talk of his debts because she was an avaricious woman and she believed that the Prince should pay handsomely for the services she gave him.

So she said: 'You are growing old.

'I am nine years younger than you are.'

'Which is why you lack my experience. But my age is of no

importance. I am rrot the Prince of Wales. When you were young...' She smirked. 'When you were younger, your exploits amused the people. Now they are no longer amused by thoiC frivolities which arc so charming in the very young. You could win back your popularity tomorrow if you wished.'

*How?'

'By marrying and presenting them with a little prince who in his turn would be their adored Prince of Wales.'

'Marrying, but...'

She laughed at him slyly. 'I know. You're thinking of that absurd affair with the fat lady.'

'Frances, please do not...'

'But you asked that I should. Shall 1 go on or cannot >ou bear to hear the truth?'

'There is no point in going on. I could not marry the fat German frau they would choose for me.'

'Why object because she is German?'

He was not going to discuss Maria in these terms even with Frances. Maria had grown ... plump, but she was still beautiful. There would never be anyone like Maria ... and he wanted to tell Frances this.

While he sought for words Frances went on: 'Face the truth. You're unpopular and you wish to be popular. Kings cannot be ?/u popular too long. You have an example of what can happen to Kings across the Channel. There is one reason why the people of this country are beginning to hate you. I'm going to risk displeasing Your Highness by telling you in two words: Maria Fitzherbei t.'

The Prince was silent. He wanted to protest, but he was saying to himself: It's true. But Maria had been faithful to him. Maria regarded herself as his wife.

Frances went on reading his thoughts in that diabolically clever way of hers: 'Why do you think she clings to you? Why do you think she meekly suffers your infidelities, eh? Why does she receive you back with open arms after all your little adventures? Shall I tell you? But of course you know that it is in the hope of the rank which will one day be hers. Princess of Wales? Queen of England! Well, at least a Duchess. She could expect that, couldn't she?'

*1 think you are wrong about Maria.'

She looked at him pityingly. 'Fall in with the King's wishes. Marry. Give the country an heir. What harm will that do to the friendship of your disinterested friends.'

He was silent and she took his hand and looked at him mockingly.

4 I would be there,' she said, 'to comfort you.'

On his way back to Carlton House the crowds seemed more sullen than ever.

They really hate me, he thought. They had given their devotion to the King now—the poor old King who had won their sympathy by going mad for a while and then regaining his sanity. Not that he was likely to cling to that for long. The people were fickle. He was well aware of that and they had grown tired of him and his debts and the wild tricks of his friends for which they often unfairly blamed him; but they were most weary of all of his marriage with Maria.

If he announced his betrothal to a German Princess these people would shout for him as they now shouted for the King.

And if he did not they would grow to hate him. He went to his drawing room in Carlton House and gazed unseeingly at the Chinese yellow silk on the walls. He thought of money. Debts, mounting debts. Why could he never keep within his allowance? The position was growing desperate. Something would have to be done.