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

He sat down on the bed apd regarded her gloomily. He was wondering why he had married her; she was wondering why she had married him.

Furiously she went to the mirror which was tarnished and mottled and threw ageing shadows on her face which momentarily alarmed her. That was how she would look in reality in a few years time if they continued to live this hole and corner life. She put up a hand to stroke her hair. It was magnificent.

her greatest beauty and she was more than averagely good looking even without it. Her features were neat, her eyes very good, her smile most agreeable and her figure slender without being thin.

She was an attractive woman; and appearances were so useful.

At home in Norfolk they had expected her to make a good match, and so, they thought, she had; for it had seemed that the eldest daughter of Sir Henry Hobart had done very well in securing a son of the Earl of Suffolk. Of course Henry was only a third son and he had disgraced himself in his family before the marriage, which was why he was allowed to throw himself away on the daughter of a Norfolk baronet—only of course the Hobarts had not known that until after. He was a drunkard; he was immoral; he had an alarming temper which could at times be violent; and he had long before his marriage run through his own patrimony; therefore Henrietta Hobart with her dowry of six thousand pounds seemed an attractive proposition.

Henrietta soon realized the mistake. Often she wished she were back in her father's house in Norfolk, sitting under the apple tree or in the rose garden with her sisters talking of the men they would marry. The peace of a country mansion had often during the last few years seemed the most desirable thing in the world.

But Henrietta was not a foolish girl to sigh for the impossible. In marriage she had found disappointment but it need not be disastrous. Fortunately, besides being blessed with beauty she had a placid temperament; and although not brilliantly clever she was resourceful.

It was her suggestion that they had come to Hanover and she was going to get to Court somehow. Once there she would seek to find a niche for herself, if not for Henry, and when she found it, would do her best to remain in it, comfortably secure, ready to leave for England with the new Queen when the time came.

It could not be long now. Anne was constantly about to die and miraculously recovering. Abigail Hill, Lady Mash am, had long since driven the Duchess of Marlborough from favour

and she guarded Anne like the dragon she was for all her insipid looks. Henrietta had often thought that if she had had an opportunity of bringing herself to the Queen's notice she might have had an opportunity of winning her favour.

But it was an impossible task, moreover one did not seek to travel on a sinking ship. Wise forward-looking people were now turning to Hanover and were bringing themselves to the notice of the Electress Sophia.

And that was what the Howards must do.

*'We must find a way," she said quietly, and began binding up her hair in readiness for their descent to the dining room. Sausages and sauerkraut. Not very delectable. But they would not for long be taking their meals like common travellers in an inn parlour.

The next day Henrietta secured a small apartment in Hanover. It was grander than she could afford but even so it was too humble. But that, she decided, was a necessary expense.

There were so many English in Hanover that it was not difficult to introduce herself into society. After all she was well born—herself the daughter of a baronet, her husband the son of an Earl. She had been most excellently educated and was every bit a court lady; and in Hanover, where manners were considered coarse compared with those of England, she seemed a very grand lady.

What she needed was an audience with the Electress but this was not easy to come by. In spite of the crudities of court life there was a rigid protocol. The number of people employed in the service of the royal household must rival that of Queen Anne's Court. Henrietta learned that there were chamberlains, ushers, pages, physicians, barbers, waiters, lacqueys, a dozen cooks the chief of whom was French, pastry makers, pie makers, scullions, officers in charge of the wine, officers in charge of beer; and all these people had their assistants. There were the court musicians: organist, numerous trumpeters and fiddlers, singers and writers of songs and music; for the one field of culture the Elector cared to explore was that of music. To see

the Electoral coach leave Hanover for the short trip to Herren-hausen, with its accompanying guardsmen, outriders and glittering escort was enough to warn Henrietta of the difficulties which lay before her.

Easy enough to remain on the fringe; but of what use was that?

She must choose carefully. She must select those who could help her obtain an audience with the Elcctress and somehow wheedle them into making the introduction. These Germans were gieat eaters and drinkers; and it was under the influence of food and drink that they would be most expansive.

She must give a dinner party, select her guests carefully, and choose the right moment to get the promise she so urgently required.

She talked it over with Henry. Not that he was much use, a hindrance rather. He had easy charming manners—it was those which had first delighted her and made her visualize a very different life from that to which he had brought her—but he w^as feckless and his chief preoccupation was how to get money to spend on drink. Still, he could be relied upon to play his part for an evening and he was, after all, the son of an Earl and a member of the great Howard family. She couldn't really do without him at tliis stage and if he did drink too much, it was very probable that their guests would too. Indeed, that was what she wanted, in order to extract that promise.

"It's a good idea," said Henry. "But how are you going to pay for the dinner party?"

She had counted her small store over and over again. It was inadequate. If she spent all she had she could provide the banquet ... and what then?

Yet it was necessary, she knew; and this was the moment. She knew that if she delayed and lost this opportunity it would mean waiting for another; and by the time that came it might be possible that they would become known as the poor Howards, deeply in debt... hangers-on like so many more.

No, now was the time. Everything depended on the next few days.

And ... how to find the money?

Henry shrugged and yawned; he could see no way.

He's quite useless, she thought, putting on her cloak and going out into the streets.

It was a crazy idea. As soon as it occurred to her she refused to consider it. Rather anything than that.

Nevertheless she paused before the window of a shop in one of the little streets; it was an expensive little shop and on a stand in the window was a solitary wig—a profusion of chestnut coloured curls.

She stared at those curls and at the inscription over the shop window. "Wig makers to the Electors of Hanover."

She turned away and walked a few paces but she came back again to look at the wig.

Then determinedly she opened the door and stepped down two steps into the shop.

A man came forward clasping his hands together, recognizing a lady of quality.

"Madam, I can be of assistance?"

"You are the wig maker?"

"Yes, Madam, at your service. Whatever you need we can provide."

She took off her hood and shook out her hair which she had left unpinned.

He stared at it almost reverently.

"It is good hair," she said. "Fine, yet abundant. Feel the texture."