Part 35 (1/2)

”Dear Masham! You make my life so much more bearable than it would otherwise be. But I have lost my boy. It is over now, some say, but to me it is as fresh as though it happened yesterday. Always I hoped that there would be others ... but now ... I am losing my dearest husband. Oh, Masham. I hope you enjoy with Samuel what I have with George.”

”It is Your Majesty's goodness which makes everything good about you.”

”You are a dear creature. But all is not good. And now my own brother comes against me.”

”He will not succeed, Your Majesty.”

”I know it. But he comes to try to take that which I hold and which he thinks I usurped from him. It is not so, Masham. The people would never have a papist on the throne.”

”Your Majesty has always faithfully upheld the Church of England.”

”Therein I find my strength, Masham. In the Church, which a.s.sures me I did right.”

Abigail kissed the Queen's hand and while she wept with her she told herself that she must let Harley know that the Queen was against the Hanoverian succession and was for the Stuart James.

News filtered through to the Court of what was happening to the invading forces.

As Marlborough had predicted, they had no chance against Sir George Byng, and the remnants of the invading forces were soon fleeing back to France.

There were rumours that Prince James had been captured and was a prisoner on board an English s.h.i.+p.

The Queen told Abigail that she was deeply disturbed because if the young man was brought to her, she would have to remember that he was her own brother and she could never find it in her heart to punish him.

The Chevalier de St. George, as James was known in France, was after all a young man in his twentieth year; it was said that he was bold and handsome. The position would be very difficult if he were brought to London for trial.

But she could trust Admiral Byng to do better than that; Anne was very pleased when the report reached her that her brother, of whom she now spoke as The Pretender, had been treated with the respect due to his rank and landed on the French coast.

The attempted invasion had come to nothing; and the Queen need have no fear on that score, but there was a little uneasiness when she heard that Lord Griffin, an ardent Jacobite who had been with her brother in France and had come with him to Scotland, had been captured and was being brought to the Tower where he would be sentenced as a traitor.

Troubled, Anne turned to Abigail. ”You see, Masham, I know Griffin well. I have known him all my life. How can I sign his death warrant? I know he fought with my brother and his plan was to set him up in my place, but he is an old friend. I cannot sentence old friends to death, and be at peace with my conscience.”

Abigail had talked with Harley. He was a Jacobite; so was she. They did not wish to see Anne deposed during her lifetime naturally, but when she died-for she would almost certainly die without heirs of her body-they would wish to see James Stuart on the throne and not Sophia of Hanover.

”They will bring Lord Griffin to the tower, Your Majesty, but they will not be able to execute him if you do not sign the death warrant.”

”But it will be expected of me.”

”Your Majesty answers to no one. I believe that some people who have mistakenly thought they could put you in leading strings are beginning to discover that.”

Abigail had folded her arms and pursed her lips. Extraordinarily, it seemed to Anne, her face was transformed and it might have been Sarah standing there.

Anne began to laugh.

”I feel so relieved that my poor brother is safe in France. And you're right, Masham, they won't be able to execute him until the death warrant is signed, and if I don't sign it ... then Griffin will live on.”

They laughed together.

Now that Masham behaved less like a servant they were growing closer than ever.

George was clearly worse, and as he loved Kensington perhaps more than any other place, Anne decided to take him there and, with Abigail, nurse him as quietly as she could.

It was Abigail who suggested that the Prince should have apartments on the ground floor of the palace.

The Prince's difficulty in breathing, increased by his corpulence-and now that he was unable to take exercise he was becoming visibly fatter every day-made it difficult for him to mount staircases; and Abigail's idea was hailed as an excellent one.

”He loves his plants,” said the Queen indulgently, ”and it will be so easy for him to slip out into the gardens to be among them, with the least possible strain.”

So to Kensington went the royal party, and as the Queen could not be parted from Abigail and it was essential that her apartments should be immediately adjoining those of the Queen and Prince, Abigail and Samuel found themselves magnificently lodged at Kensington.

Sarah was flitting from St. Albans to Blenheim and back to see how Marlborough House was progressing and had little time to spare for the Queen. Moreover, she believed that if she remained aloof Anne would be unable to endure the separation and would humbly ask her to come to her.

She waited in vain for the summons, but her daughter Henrietta, who had been visiting at the palace, came to her to tell her what magnificent apartments Abigail was occupying there, and when Sarah asked her to describe them her eyes narrowed with anger.

”Why,” she cried, ”I know those apartments although I have never occupied them. William had them made for Keppel. You remember Keppel was at one time a very great favourite with William and he could scarce bear the young man out of his sight. When William died and George took over the Palace-which he did with scarcely respectable speed-Anne said that those apartments should be mine. And that gooseberry-eyed s.l.u.t is occupying them! I shall soon put a stop to that.”

Although she had pleaded lack of time to go to Court before this, Sarah went straight there and demanded that the housekeeper show her the rooms which were being occupied by the Mashams.

As soon as she saw them she gave vent to her rage.

”These rooms were given to me by the Queen when she first came to the throne!” she declared, and went off to see the Queen, thrusting aside those who would restrain her.

”I can a.s.sure you that Her Majesty will put nothing in the way of seeing me!” she declared.

It may have been that Abigail had seen her approach or it might have been one of those rare occasions when she was not in attendance, but Sarah found one of the other bedchamber women with the Queen.

”It is not often that we have the pleasure of Mrs. Freeman's company,” began the Queen.

But Sarah burst out, ”I have heard disturbing news. Mrs. Masham has taken my lodgings.”

Anne looked dismayed and Sarah rushed on. ”It is not the first time that she has sought to take that which belongs to me. I'll not have her in my apartments.”

”Masham has none of your rooms,” said the Queen.

”The housekeeper has shown me that she has. Your Majesty gave me those rooms and I will not have Masham using them.”

”But Masham has none of your rooms,” repeated the Queen, ”and to say to the contrary is false and a lie.”

”If Your Majesty will send for the housekeeper, who knows very well which apartments here are being used by whom, he will tell you that Masham is using that apartment which William gave to Keppel and which you gave me. I will summon him.”

”Pray do not,” said the Queen coldly. ”I do not wish to see him because I know Masham has none of your rooms.”

Sarah asked leave to depart and the Queen did not detain her. She was so certain that Abigail was using her rooms and could not let pa.s.s an occasion for proving herself in the right. It did not occur to her that the Queen was telling her politely that she could no longer consider the apartment hers, and that it had been given to Abigail.

Sarah must prove herself right.

She went once more to the housekeeper. She looked at the apartments again and stalked back to the Queen.

”Masham is in my apartment,” she said.

”Masham has not made use of your apartment,” retorted the Queen coldly.