Part 14 (1/2)
”Lady Marlborough's, Your Majesty?”
Anne nodded. Lady Marlborough soon to be the d.u.c.h.ess.
Sarah read the letter with elation. d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough-Marl a Duke. It was wonderful. But ... there was no talk of the estates and money they would need to uphold their elevated position. Did not old Morley understand that? There should have been an offer of at least five thousand a year to go with the Dukedom.
She went thoughtfully to the Queen. When she entered Anne looked up hopefully, expecting floods of grat.i.tude. Instead she faced a very subdued Sarah.
”Mrs. Freeman cannot have received my letter.”
”Oh yes. I have received it.”
”You seem ... displeased.”
”When I read Mrs. Morley's letter,” said Sarah slowly, ”I let it drop from my hand and for a time I felt as though I had received the news of a death of a dear friend.”
”Mrs. Freeman, I do not understand.”
”My dearest Morley I know wishes to please me. And believe me when honour is paid to Mr. Freeman nothing could please me more. But we have not the wealth to sustain a Dukedom. There. I am a simple woman and I give a simple answer. I do not couch my thoughts in flowery sentiments. So I give you the plain truth. A Dukedom is not for us, Mrs. Morley, because we simply have not wealth for such a t.i.tle. And I will say this-it is but a matter of precedence-and that bothers me little. I do not care so much that I pa.s.s through one door and others of lesser rank through another, I know my good Mrs. Morley thought to please me. But it is difficult for one such as Your Majesty to understand the financial difficulties of others.”
Anne looked as though she would burst into tears.
But Sarah having made her point, asked leave to retire.
Sarah was furious. Anne had of course immediately sought some means of providing an income for the Churchills which would enable them to accept the Dukedom and proposed an annual grant of five thousand pounds which would be taken from Post Office revenues. This she declared was necessary in view of Marlborough's new t.i.tle, and as his son would inherit that t.i.tle in due course the income must be granted to the new Duke's heirs.
The Government revolted. Marlborough's services to the nation were appreciated but bestowing hereditary grants on individuals was frowned on; and to avoid an adverse vote Marlborough, now home once more, could only decline the offer of revenue from that source.
Sarah raged and ranted, but John tried in vain to soothe her.
”They are so ungrateful!” she cried. ”When I think of all you have done for them. And now for a miserable five thousand ...”
She went to the Queen.
”You see, Mrs. Morley, how wise I was to refuse the Dukedom in the first place. I know Mr. Freeman has no wish to accept so called honours when they are so grudgingly given. If he had taken my advice he would never have accepted the t.i.tle. But now it is done ... and here he is-the man who brought honour to his country, a Duke without the means to keep up his rank. A pretty state of affairs! A pretty example of a country's ingrat.i.tude! I said to Mr. Freeman: It is folly to take this from a country who so clearly does not wish to honour you ... rather to humiliate you.”
”My dear, dear Mrs. Freeman, this is most distressing. You shall have two thousand from my privy purse. No one shall know of it. It shall be a secret between us....”
”Mrs. Morley should know that Mrs. Freeman could not easily be persuaded to enter into secret bargains....”
She could not be comforted, and when she left the Queen was trembling and in tears.
Abigail came to her and bathed her forehead.
”There, Madam.” Anne accepted the brandy. ”Would Your Majesty wish me to play a little on the harpsichord?”
”No, Hill. Just sit beside me. Your presence comforts me.”
Abigail took the trembling hand in hers and the Queen smiled at her.
”It seems peaceful now, Hill. Let us talk for a while and later perhaps when I am sleepy you will play me to sleep.”
Sarah stormed back to Marlborough.
”She is ready to pay us two thousand from the privy purse,” she said. ”What's the use of that?”
John shook his head. ”We couldn't take it, Sarah. It could be embarra.s.sing if it leaked out that we were being supplied in this way. But there is something else. I've a letter here from Sidney G.o.dolphin. He writes from Newmarket.”
”Newmarket. I should have thought he might have been in London. Here is the Government treating you in this churlish way and he is at Newmarket if you please.”
”Our John is with him.”
”Our John! But why is he not at Cambridge?”
”There's smallpox in Cambridge.”
Sarah turned pale. ”John?”
”He's all right. Sidney thought it better for him to leave Cambridge and go to stay at Newmarket. The air there is fresh and good. But I was a little uneasy.”
Smallpox! The dreaded scourge. Sarah could not bear to think of it having come near her only son.
”Perhaps he should come home,” she said.
”Sidney says he's very well. I thought you might write to him and tell him that you are no longer displeased with him.”
”But I am still displeased with him.”
”He wrote to me asking me to plead with you on his behalf.”
”Then he should have written to me himself.”
”Sarah!” Marlborough laid his hand on her arm and gave her that sweet smile which never failed to charm. ”I know you love him dearly-as you do the whole family, but could you not show it a little now and then?”
”Are you telling me how to treat my son, John Churchill!”
”Our son,” he reminded her.
She laughed. ”We'll have him home. I do not care that he should be near a pox-laden atmosphere.”
”Write to him and tell him he is forgiven.”
”No. He must write to me first. And what of this matter of our income ...”
He laid his hands on her shoulders and drew her towards him.
”That is a matter which will, I doubt not, in time work out to our advantage ... my d.u.c.h.ess.”