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

He came to the chair on which she was sitting and pinched her cheek. "Oh, you are the cautious von, alvays, my Caroline. Ve shall soon be planning our coronation."

"Let us not talk so ... even in private." She glanced over her shoulder. But he only laughed the louder. He was so sure of

jSS Queen in Waiting

himself, standing on tiptoe, seeing himself in the mirror, a crown instead of the wig on his head.

Caroline was alarmed, imagining the King's spies carrying tales of his son's unseemly behaviour; would it be possible for him to have George Augustus passed over in favour of Frederick? Who knew what vindictive scheme that man might invent. And Frederick thought Caroline, what do I know of Frederick? My son is a stranger to me. We must be careful ... more so now than ever.

But how make the exuberant George Augustus understand this?

The King had returned to England. Before she saw^ him Caroline heard that he showed no ill effects; but she could not believe that. He was advancing into his sixties. How could a man of that age collapse mysteriously at dinner and it have no significance?

When he received her he was attended as usual by the Duchesses of Kendal and Darlington, and Caroline was immediately aware of their anxious looks. But the King had not changed at all. There was no sign of illness in his dour unwelcoming face.

Did he look at her a little sardonically? He would know of course how their hopes had soared. Was he saying: Not yet, my dear. It is not the turn of that booby of a husband of yours yet. Oh, no you have to wait, my dear.

**I have brought you a present,** he told Caroline.

She was surprised and pleased for it was the first time he had brought a gift for her.

"You Majesty is gracious to me.*'

His lips turned up at the corners; it was as near as he could get to a smile. Was she visualizing some magnificent piece of jewellery, wondered the King. She was going to have yet another surprise and he wondered whether this one would be as unpalatable as the first, for when she had come to him she had expected to see him disabled from his so-called seizure.

He signed to one of his attendants and said that the Princess's gift was to be brought to her.

The man disappeared and when he returned there was an astonished silence throughout the apartment, for he led by a chain attached to the creature's neck what might have been a boy or a monkey. The creature stooped slightly and loped while it looked about it at the assembled company with something between fear and defiance. It was dressed in a bright blue suit lined with red, and red stockings. "It is a wild boy/' said the King. "We found him in the forest; he ran on all fours then, but he can stand up already. He lived on grass, moss, nuts and whatever he could find. I thought he would amuse Your Highness."

Caroline said, without showing her distaste or surprise: "Your Majesty is gracious."

She took the chain which was offered her and led the creature from the King's presence.

Everyone was talking of tlie Wild Boy and wondered what lay behind the King's motive in presenting him to the Princess. Was it because she had introduced the fashion for innocula-tion? Was the King hinting that as she appeared to be interested in medical science, here was an opportunity to try a further experiment?

Caroline, however, had given no sign of her dismay; the first thing she did on reaching her apartments was to send for her good friend Dr. Arbutlinot.

She showed him the boy who glared at them both from under his bushy eyebrows and Caroline asked the doctor if he thought by gentle treatment and teaching he might become normal.

"It would be interesting," she said, "to discover whether this is possible."

The doctor agreed and said he would take the wild boy away and see what could be done with him.

"Poor boy," said Caroline. "I wonder what his history is. He doubtless lost his parents in some way or was abandoned. But he must certainly have fended for himself for some ten or twelve years."

"That we may discover ... if we can reach him to speak."

**Then teach him. I know you will be kind to him. I fancy he needs kindness. He looks at us so suspiciously. I think he is rather frightened. You must bring him to visit me from time to time; and he should have a name. We will call him Peter."

So Dr. Arbuthnot took Peter away and tried to teach him; and very soon the wild boy was forgotten except by Caroline who had many interviews with Dr. Arbuthnot, who could report little progress; and she continued to wonder why the King had given her such a present.

Soon after the King's return from Hanover Caroline's daughter Louisa was born. Caroline now had a little family of three and to these she devoted herself; she was able to visit Anne, Amelia and Caroline more frequently than she had before the reconciliation, but she still felt resentful because she had no control of them.

The Court was less gay than it had been in the old days. Molly Lepel was rarely there although Lord Hervey was a frequent visitor ana Caroline was always delighted to see him. Mary Bellenden remained but she had become quieter in her contentment. Poor Sophie Howe would never return. She was heartbroken and had fallen into such a decline that it was not expected she would live more than a few more months.

It was a saddening thought. Henrietta, Mrs. Clayton and Lady Cowper retained their posts but they had never been the gay spirits of the Court. Yes, the Court had lost its earlier sparkle.

Walpole was a frequent visitor; but she told herself she could not forgive him for deceiving her at the time of the reconciliation; and she still talked continually of her desire to have her older children back under her roof. The King was devoted to Walpole and for that reason—and because his debts had not been paid as Walpole had promised they would—the Prince disliked him.

Yet in spite of this Caroline was fascinated by the man. He was wily and had even succeeded in ousting the Germans from the King's favour and holding first position there himself.

Walpole must be watched, she thought, so that when the great day came his services could be called upon.

If George Augustus hated Walpole he did not hate Wal-pole's wife. Rumour was that she was for a time his mistress and as she was notorious for the fact that she took lover after lover while her husband went his own way, it seemed possible.

And so a few years slipped by and although the King grew older he remained in excellent health and when Anne Brett, a very handsome, dark-haired young woman came to court he showed marked interest in her.

Caroline, aware of this, wondered whether the King could live for another ten or fifteen years. Would her children ever be returned to her? Was Frederick going to be kept in Hanover for the rest of the King's life? Would the crown never be her husband's? Would she never know the power for which ever since her marriage she had been preparing herself?

The King was approaching his sixty-sixth year. Was he going to outlive them all?

George was pleased with life. He had become reconciled to England; he was devoted to his two German mistresses, particularly the Duchess of Kendal; she was constantly with him and was to him as a wife. At the same time Anne Brett excited him and he would enjoy his association with her as wholeheartedly as he had indulged in such affairs at the age of eighteen.

He too had begun to think he was immortal.

Anne was no Ermengarda. She made demands; but she was so young and he was perhaps ready nowadays to do a little more courting than he had been in his youth.

She amused him; she delighted him; she was as beautiful as the Countess von Platen and that made a pleasant change from the Duchesses of Kendal and Darlington.