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

"And, my darling, what happened? I have the best of daughters."

"You were determined to do the best for me as I am for Caroline. Our views differ. As I see it she shall not be forced into marriage. I despair of losing her, yet I shall make no effort to detain her. She has been brought up to respect the freedom of individuals. Now she shall have it and use it as she will."

The old Electress's shrewd eyes were speculative.

She wanted this girl for her daughter-in-law. She would say nothing to her as yet. George Augustus had not a good reputation and this girl had been brought up to make her own decisions. But a little persuasion would be reasonable ... and worldly wise.

Caroline listened to the words of Father Orban.

The Catholic Faith was the true faith, the only faith, and only by adhering to it could she enter the Kingdom of Heaven. "This is the undefiled, the genuine, the pure holy truth. Break from the heretics and for the sake of your soul cling to the truth...."

Caroline was thinking: I should be Queen of Spain. And she saw herself riding through the streets of Madrid; she heard the shouts of the people. "Long live the Queen of Spain. Long live Queen Caroline! "

And the young man who would ride beside her was pleasant and courteous.

She would have children ... and when she held the first of them in her arms the pain of separation would begin to be numbed. She would love the child as she loved Sophia Charlotte and all her hopes and ambitions would be for her son.

Poor Father Orban! He was so earnest. He did not know that she had heard those arguments again and again and that they meant nothing to her. She doubted she would ever be truly religious.

When she left Father Orban she would walk in the gardens with Leibniz.

*Tou will never accept the Catholic Faith," he told her.

"Is it necessary to do so to call yourself a Catholic?"

**Do you think you would care for life in Spain?"

He looked at her shrewdly. How much did she know of his inner thoughts? They had made a clever girl of their Caroline . . . he, Sophia Charlotte and their friends.

The Electress Sophia was against the marriage. He knew why. She wanted Caroline for Hanover. What a better prospect for Caroline ... and Leibniz ... for Sophia Charlotte ... for them all!

It was not exactly selfish to work for Hanover and against Spain. What future would there be for a free thinker in Spain, the land of the Inquisition and bigotry? Better to have accepted the custodianship of the Vatican and become a servant of the Pope than go to Spain.

"If you remember all the conversations we have had here, if they have meant anything to you, you will never go to Spain."

No, she thought in the solitude of her room, I shall never go to Spain.

Sophia Charlotte showed her a letter she had received from the Elector Palatine.

He knew, he wrote, that Caroline was being instructed in the Catholic faith by Father Orban, but the Father was a little disappointed by the obstruction she put forward. She seemed to make argument rather than accept instruction. The Elector

Palatine knew that Caroline was an unusually intelligent young woman and it was partly for this reason that they were anxious for her to marry the Archduke, but they believed in Austria that she was being a little recalcitrant. If Charlotte Sophia would persuade her, for, as Caroline's guardian, she must rejoice in this brilliant offer which was being put before her, if she would point out the advantages of becoming a Catholic, the Elector Palatine was sure that Her Serene Highness the Princess of Ansbach would see good sense the quicker.

"And this is my answer," said Sophia Charlotte showing it to Caroline.

The Queen of Prussia thanked the Elector Palatine for his letter but it was her firm belief that the matter of choosing religion was a choice—like that of marriage—which should be left to the individual and she would do nothing to persuade Her Serene Highness, the Princess of Ansbach, to make her choice. It must rest entirely with her.

"It's true, my dearest," said Sophia Charlotte; "the choice must be yours."

The Electress Sophia talked to Caroline. She implored her to make a wise decision; she herself had always felt the Catholics to be too fanatical for her taste; and she had heard such sad tales of the way Protestants were persecuted in Spain. It was, as her daughter Sophia Charlotte reiterated so often, for Caroline to make the choice, but there were matters she should consider very carefully.

"Spain is a great country. It would be an honour to be its Queen but it could not compare with the honour of being Queen of England, and England would want a Protestant Queen. I always knew it and I believe the English to be right."

The Electress Sophia felt frustrated for how could she tell Caroline that she wanted her to be the bride of her own grandson before she had discussed this matter with her son.

She thought she ought to go back to Hanover without delay and talk over the matter with George Lewis. She believed she could persuade him easily for he was not deeply interested in his son.

She wished she could say openly, instead of by hints, that Caroline should refuse the match with Spain for she might have a more brilliant possibility presented to her before long.

Sophia Charlotte said goodbye to her mother and promised to visit her soon.

"For," said the Electress Sophia, "you have allowed this matter to worry you and you are not looking as well as I should like to see you."

Get her to Hanover, thought the Electress, and there discuss the desirability of keeping Caroline in their own intimate circle.

Caroline listened to Father Orban. He spoke so earnestly that he was almost convincing. Then she would walk with Gottfried Leibniz and he would be even more so.

Sophia Charlotte did not want her to go.

Of course I shall never leave her, thought Caroline.

She was not sleeping as well as she usually did. She was haunted by dreams of the past mingling with thoughts of the future. Once she dreamed she saw the Queen of Spain being crowned. She thought it was herself until she saw her mother's face under the diadem.

No, she thought, I shall never go to Spain. In any case he is not yet King; and the King of France is determined that he never shall be; and the King of France is surely one of the most powerful men in the world.*

There came a letter from her brother who, on the death of their stepbrother had become Margrave of Ansbach.

"I have heard of your difficulties," he wrote. "Why not come and stay awhile in Ansbach? Here you can live quietly, away from all controversy. It would be a good place in which to make your decision."

When she showed this invitation to Sophia Charlotte, the latter thought it would be an excellent idea for her to go and stay for a short while with her brother. They had seen so little of each other and the invitation was cordial. Moreover it would be a good idea for her to get right away from Lutzen-

burg to make her decision. There she would discover more easily what she wanted to do.

So Caroline decided she would go to Ansbach for a short stay.

While Caroline had been the centre of attraction, Frederick William, piqued to find himself in the shade, had been behaving with more than his usual arrogance. Sophia Charlotte, who secretly had been feeling less well as each week passed and doing her utmost to hide this fact, agreed with the King that perhaps a tour of foreign countries might teach their son better manners.

She hated parting with him for she loved him dearly and tried to convince herself that he would outgrow his violent temper and arrogant ways, for she, who was so eager to discover the truth about life and death, could deceive herself about this son who so disappointed her.