Part 35 (1/2)
”Why should he concern himself with getting getting when he had when he had you you?”
”That is what I tried to tell him. It hurt my feelings, in a way!”
”If half the stories are true, you could have made more than enough to support yourself and him as well-ah, there's the rub-it was masculine pride, wasn't it?”
”That, and a perverse desire to better himself-to prove he was worthy of me, by becoming more like me. What he did not understand-and what I could not tell him-was that I loved him precisely because he was unlike unlike me.” me.”
”Why don't you tell him now? Is he coming to the funeral?”
”Oh, no no no! You don't understand, highness, I do not speak of recent recent events. This happened thirty years ago. I've not seen him since. And be a.s.sured he is events. This happened thirty years ago. I've not seen him since. And be a.s.sured he is not not attending the funeral!” attending the funeral!”
”Thirty years.”
”Yes.”
”Thirty years.”
”THIRTY YEARS! Longer than I have been alive. The whole time I have known you, this has been going on!”
”I should not say anything was 'going on.' It is an episode of my girlhood, forgotten.”
”Yes, I can see how well you have forgotten it.”
”Where is this man? England?”
”Two people can be a world apart, even when both are in the same city-”
”He's in London London!? And you have done nothing nothing!?”
”Your royal highness-”
”Well, this is another good reason I must go there and become Princess of Wales, or Queen as the case may be, so that I can wield my monarchical powers to patch up your love life.”
”I beg beg you not to-” said the d.u.c.h.ess, looking thoroughly rattled for the first time. Then she stopped, for there had been an interruption. you not to-” said the d.u.c.h.ess, looking thoroughly rattled for the first time. Then she stopped, for there had been an interruption.
”The rite is about to begin, your royal highness,” announced Henrietta Braithwaite, gazing out a window over a crowd in black wool and black silk, funneling itself toward the entrance of the family chapel. She turned to face the Princess, then cast her eyes down in submission, and held up the ivory tool. ”This is smooth,” she added. ”Be a.s.sured that no matter how many times we are forced to use it, your royal highness may go out this evening perfectly unmarked.”
”Henrietta,” said the Princess, ”my life would not be the same without you.” An ambiguous statement-but Mrs. Braithwaite chose the most flattering interpretation, and responded with a curtsey and even a blush.
”I HAVE A PROBLEM, MADAME,” HAVE A PROBLEM, MADAME,” said the dark lean figure who had marred Eliza's peripheral vision for the last quarter-hour, ”and you have an opportunity.” said the dark lean figure who had marred Eliza's peripheral vision for the last quarter-hour, ”and you have an opportunity.”
”Ugh, not another another one!” Eliza said, and turned finally to confront this fellow, who had been following her around like a doppelganger despite her efforts to shake him off in the crowd of mourners. one!” Eliza said, and turned finally to confront this fellow, who had been following her around like a doppelganger despite her efforts to shake him off in the crowd of mourners.
They were outside the Palace of Herrenhausen, among the parterres of the northern end of the garden. Inside the palace was a private chapel, not nearly large enough to contain all of the mourners. Sophie's funeral service had begun an hour ago. Caroline and other members of the family were within; the others were scattered like a flock of black doves across the white gravel of the paths.
In the corner of her eye Eliza had noticed that this troublesome man was dressed in black, and that his wig was white; but the same was true of every man here. Now, looking him squarely in the face for the first time, she saw that the white mane, though it was certainly fake, was no affectation. He was quite old.
”Even on the brightest days I have no desire to be pestered by men with opportunities opportunities. On a day like this this-”
”It has to do with our absent friend.”
Eliza was almost certain this meant Leibniz. He had not arrived yet. The remarks that several courtiers had made concerning his absence were like wisps of smoke concealing an underlying fire of gossip. Who could this this fellow be, then? An old Englishman who knew her, and was a friend of the Doctor- fellow be, then? An old Englishman who knew her, and was a friend of the Doctor- ”Dr. Waterhouse.”
He lowered his eyelids and bowed.
”It has been-?”
”To judge from appearances, a hundred years for me, and half an hour for you. If you prefer to go by calendars, the answer is twenty-five years or so.”
”Why have you not come to call on me at Leicester House?”
”Before I received received your summons, I your summons, I accepted accepted one from another Lady,” Daniel said, glancing toward the Chapel entrance, ”and it has kept me busy. I do hope you will forgive my rudeness.” one from another Lady,” Daniel said, glancing toward the Chapel entrance, ”and it has kept me busy. I do hope you will forgive my rudeness.”
”Which rudeness? Not calling on me? Or pursuing me with an opportunity?” rudeness? Not calling on me? Or pursuing me with an opportunity?”
”If you are discomposed by it, consider that I am acting as a proxy for the Doctor himself.”
”When I first met the Doctor he was at work on a scheme: a windmill to pump water from the mines of the Harz,” Eliza recalled fondly. ”He hoped they would then produce enough silver to finance his world-library-c.u.m-logic-mill.”
”Odd that you should say so. When I I first met him, which was at least ten years before first met him, which was at least ten years before you you did, he was working on the mill itself. Then he got distracted by the calculus.” did, he was working on the mill itself. Then he got distracted by the calculus.”
”What I am trying to say to you, in a gentle way, sir, is that-”
”The Doctor's schemes are mad? Yes, I had already taken your meaning.”
”As much as I love the Doctor and his philosophy, and as much as you you do-” do-”
”Stipulated,” said the old man, and smiled warmly, pressing his lips together to hide whatever dental wreckage might be underneath.
”If he cannot make his project succeed with the resources of the Tsar at his back, what use am I?”
”It is of this that I wish to speak to you,” Daniel began. But the doors to the family chapel now swung open. Sophie's coffin was borne out by a lot of Kings and Electors and Dukes.
They set it on a gun carriage, drawn by a single black horse. The rest of the family came out of the chapel. The coffin and carriage set out, followed by all of the mourners who were fit enough to accompany Sophie on her last walk. A procession took shape, moving southwards down the central axis of the garden towards the great fountain. Daniel strolled along at the rear of the column. Presently Eliza found him.
Daniel said, ”You have probably guessed that Leibniz's absence has to do with the work that he is doing for the Tsar. I believe that the Doctor is in St. Petersburg now.”
”Then no further explanation for his absence is wanted,” Eliza said. ”For news to reach him there, and for him to make the journey back, when there's a war on between the Russians and the Swedes-”
”Impossible,” Daniel agreed. ”And you have not even addressed the question of whether he would be allowed allowed to leave.” to leave.”
A pause, a few steps down the gravel path, before Eliza answered, in a different voice altogether: ”Why shouldn't he be allowed to leave?”
”The Tsar is not renowned for his patience. He wants to see something that actually works.”