Queen in Waiting - Plaidy Jean (электронную книгу бесплатно без регистрации TXT) 📗

"Who?" asked Caroline.

The Duchess, looking a little coy, replied that it was the Archduke Charles, King of Spain.

Caroline flushed slightly but said calmly that she had heard much of him and should be interested to meet him. If she was to meet him.

"Certainly you are," was the reply. "It is to see you that he has broken his journey to call at Weissenfels."

The Archduke Charles was clearly delighted with Caroline when with an absence of ceremony they were introduced to each other by the Duke and Duchess of Weissenfels.

Charles was nineteen and gallant; he knew that the sooner he married the better; and this young woman, a year or so older than himself with her very bright blue eyes, abundant hair and lively expression seemed delightful. He had heard of !ier unusual intelligence for he had met people who had stayed at the Prussian Court and been invited to Liitzenburg; although she was merely the daughter of a Margiave of Ans-bach she had been brought up as that of the King of Prussia.

Charles did not feel that he had made an unnecessary journey.

Although they were not allowed to be alone, the Duke and Duchess gave them opportunities for conversation; and they walked in the gardens together, with a few attendants keeping

them in sight and at the same time their distance; they also sat together in the reception chamber with attendants placed too far from them to hear their conversation.

Caroline compared the Archduke Charles with Frederick William and that made her see Charles very favourably. Although there was no mention of a marriage she knew that could have been the only reason for this visit and she was vain enough to have been very disappointed if the Archduke Charles had not been favourably impressed with her.

He was so gallant that it was difficult to be sure, but she was almost certain.

King of Spain! It was a glittering title. She was discovering that she was ambitious; but how far from Liitzenburg Spain was! So how could she happily contemplate marriage into that country?

She had always known that marriage would be a state into which she would enter with trepidation. Now, when she was alone in her rooms, she would stand at her window gazing over the vineyards and think of those long ago days when she had looked out at her stepfather and his mistress caressing each other for all to see, while her mother lay in her room wondering whether her punishment for marrying him would be repudiation or death.

Marriage! She had to consider it. And either way she looked she could see unhappiness. To Spain and separation from Sophia Charlotte—to Berlin, to spend the rest of her life with her beloved foster mother. And the price? Frederick William or spinsterhood.

And when she looked at the pleasant face of the young Archduke she could not make up her mind what was preferable.

He talked of his ambitions because he could not yet talk of his more romantic intentions. Before he did this his advisers must set forth their conditions, and she supposed the King of Prussia would set forth his. They would be bargained for, wrangled over, and she was glad of this because the time necessary to do the bargaining and wrangling would enable her to think; for she believed that the final decision was hers because Sophia Charlotte would never allow her to be forced into what she did not want.

"They call me a King," her suitor told her, "but I have yet to win my kingdom."

"I hope it will not be long before you do."

He shrugged his shoulders. "The Spaniards prefer the grandson of Louis XIV."

"But your claim is greater."

His smile was deprecating. "The second son of the Emperor? Perhaps. It is a pity the King of Spain died without heirs. Then there would not have to be this war for the succession."

"Well, you have great Allies."

"Yes, William of England has made the Grand Alliance, and England and Holland as well as Austria are with me. We are determined to prevent French domination of Europe which will surely ensue if Louis gets control of Spain."

"The Electress Sophia, mother of my guardian, would tell you you could not fail if you have the English on your side."

"The great Marlborough will carry us to victory I doubt not. When I leave Weissenfels I shall make my way to England, where I shall be received by Queen Anne and have conferences with the Duke of Marlborough. I should like to see a speedy end to this matter."

"And when you are victorious, you will go immediately to Spain?"

He smiled at her intently. "Yes," he said. "I shall go to Spain. It is an interesting country. Have you ever felt that you would like to see it?"

"I think it is always interesting to see new places," replied Caroline noncommitally.

The stay of the Archduke at Weissenfels was short. He had merely come to take a look at the bride he was being offered to assure himself that she was not deformed or distasteful in any way.

Then he rode on to the Hague to embark for England and Caroline went back to Liitzenburg.

When Caroline reached the palace she went immediately to Sophia Charlotte, embraced her and told her what had happened.

"I'll never ... never leave you! " she cried.

**But you liked him ... this Archduke Charles?" said Sophia Charlotte.

"He was pleasant enough but..."

**He could well become the King of Spain. Have you thought of that?"

"I could only think that you would be in Prussia, I in Spain."

"And that is enough to make you want to refuse this match?"

"It is. I am certain of it."

"My dearest, I cannot be always with you."

"But why not?"

"Because I am older than you, and none of us can expect to live for ever."

"Let us swear to be together ... until death parts us."

"My darling, it is not right. It is not good. There is your future to think of. You will soon be twenty-one. In a few years they will be saying you are too old for marriage. You have no great titles or riches, remember, to attract a bridegroom. It is my duty to tell you that you might never get an offer to compare with this."

Caroline put her arms round Sophia Charlotte's neck. "I choose to stay with you," she said.

The King of Prussia sent for his ward. When she stood before him he looked at her more intently than he ever had before. It seemed miraculous that she could have received such an honour. Of course she was a Hohenzollern and connected with the Brandenburgs, but without fortune, without honours and titles. Why had she been chosen by the Imperial family to marry one of the sons of that House? It was true Archduke Charles was a second son, but he could be Emperor one day; he could also be King of Spain. Of course the Empire was not the mighty power it had once been; and Charles was a young man with ambitious hopes rather than actual possessions; all the same this was a brilliant offer for Caroline and he hoped she realized it.

It was Sophia Charlotte who had made this possible. She had brought up the girl in such a manner as to make her a desirable wife, without dowry and titles though she might be, and all who had met her at Liitzenburg had been impressed by her accomplishments for she was perhaps the most well educated and cultivated Princess in Germany. Sophia Charlotte had determined to educate her as though she were her own daughter—and this was the result.

He would be glad to see the girl married, for she was not going to have his son, and he was afraid that Sophia Charlotte would attempt to persuade him and although he was determined to remain firm, he might waver.