Part 10 (1/2)
”I remember how you once badly wanted the Garter for him,” said Anne.
”I am sure there is no one-just no one-at Court who deserves it more,” was the fierce rejoinder.
”You are right and it is only just that it should be his.”
”My dear Mrs. Morley!”
”My dearest Mrs. Freeman, so Morley has made you happy?”
It was incredible! thought Abigail. She had miscalculated; she would be an insignificant bedchamber woman for the rest of her days.
Sarah's new posts brought in seven thousand five hundred a year, but Anne said that she needed more.
”You must allow me to give you a further two thousand, Mrs. Freeman.”
Sarah's eyes sparkled, but of course she dared not accept. There would be trouble as there had been previously. She did not want it to be said that the Marlboroughs took too large a share of the Queen's income. Their enemies would find some means of cutting down Anne's allowance if that were spread about.
With great self-restraint Sarah declined her dear friend's generous offer. But it was very satisfactory, as she explained to dear Marl. A Garter for him; fresh posts for herself; an added income; and most of all-power!
It was Sarah's prerogative to bestow posts and that was one of the most profitable businesses in the country.
”Her Majesty will allow no places to be bestowed without my approval,” was her very proud boast.
She was indeed Queen Sarah.
When Anne made her first visit to Parliament as Queen it was Lady Marlborough who rode beside her; and when she entered the House, Prince George was on one side, Sarah on the other, and Marlborough himself carried the Sword of State before her.
A further honour had been bestowed on the family, for John Churchill had been made Captain General of the British Armies abroad.
Anne looking regal and wearing the star on her breast and her robes of velvet and ermine, was very different from the indolent careless Princess, and she seemed very conscious of her dignity. One of her greatest a.s.sets was her beautiful voice, and she spoke earnestly and eagerly of her intention to rule well; she wanted no strife through the three kingdoms.
”And as I know my heart to be entirely English, I can very well a.s.sure you that there is not anything you can expect or desire from me which I shall not be ready to do for the happiness and prosperity of England, and you shall always find me a strict and religious observer of my word.”
”G.o.d save the Queen!” was the loyal answer.
The new reign had begun, but there were many who, watching the Queen and her courtiers, asked themselves: ”Whose reign? That of Queen Anne or Queen Sarah?”
The day selected for Queen Anne's coronation was April 23rd.
She confided to Abigail: ”Hill, I dread the ceremony, for I do not see how I am going to walk to the Abbey.”
”Your Majesty will have to be carried.”
”A Queen carried to her coronation! Have you ever heard the like? Oh dear, I fear it is going to be a most tiring occasion. I wish that I could dispense with it.”
”Your Majesty will come through it, charming all who behold you.”
”But a Queen carried to her coronation, Hill!”
”The people will love you the more for your misfortune.”
”I believe you are a wise young woman. 'Tis true enough they love when they pity. And they will remember the loss of my boy.”
Anne had formed a habit of talking of her boy to Abigail; she would go over the anecdotes again and again, but Abigail always listened as though she was hearing them for the first time.
”You're a comfort to me, Hill,” Anne said on more than one occasion, for another habit of hers was to make a phrase and repeat it again and again. This irritated Sarah, who would sometimes make an impatient gesture when these repet.i.tious phrases were used; Abigail never gave a sign that she had heard them before. And there were occasions when Abigail suspected that Anne enjoyed those sessions with her more than she did the brisk encounters with Sarah.
So on the morning of the coronation Abigail listened once more to the stories of the dead Duke's perfections until Sarah bustled in to stop the reminiscences.
”I was telling Hill how I wish my boy were here to see this day.”
”I doubt not it would have pleased him mightily,” said Sarah. ”Now I have come to see that everything is in order. Nothing must go wrong today!”
”I am sure it could not with you, dear Mrs. Freeman, to attend to all that should be done.”
Abigail faded into the background, forgotten.
”Ah, yes,” mused Anne, ”if only my boy were here....”
”I can tell you, Mrs. Morley, I am not so pleased with my boy.”
”My dear Mrs. Freeman, what do you mean?”
”He has a desire, mark you, to join the Army, and serve under his father.”
”A very natural desire when you consider he is Mr. Freeman's son. And my dear Mrs. Freeman is a fighter too. I am sure if she had been born a man she would have been commanding an army.”
”Lord Blandford is sixteen years old. That is no age to become a soldier. I said that he should go from Eton to Cambridge and that is where he has gone. But he is displeased with me because of it and I can tell you I am displeased with him.”
”It is a pity when families quarrel.”
”Quarrel, Mrs. Morley! Do you think that I shall allow my own son to go against my wishes?”
Anne sighed. ”And what does Mr. Freeman think?”
”Oh, he thinks that there is only one worthwhile profession in the world and would willingly take young John with him into service. I can tell you I put a stop to that nonsense.”
”I believe even Mr. Freeman is afraid of you.”
”Then I am the only one in the world he is afraid of. Of course later on it may well be that young John will join his father, but not yet.”
”How fortunate you are, Mrs. Freeman, to have children. I often think that if my boy had lived and I had been able to give him brothers and sisters I should have been a very happy woman. I would willingly give my crown in exchange for a family of boys and girls. Sometimes when I see my poorest subjects ...”
”Well, well, we have to accept our lot. And now, Madam, if you are to be in time for your coronation ...”
Abigail listening, marvelled at the temerity of a woman who could cut short the Queen. Yet here was Sarah taking the important posts while she, Abigail, who let the Queen talk, who always agreed with her and soothed, had to dissolve into the background as soon as Sarah appeared, and emerge again only when she could make herself useful.