Courting Her Highness_ The Story of Queen Anne - Jean Plaidy [134]
“Madam, upon Lord Marlborough’s going into Holland I believe Your Majesty will neither be surprised nor displeased to hear that I am going into the country, since by your very hard and uncommon usage of me, you have convinced all sorts of people as well as myself that nothing would be so uneasy to you as my near attendance. Upon this account I thought it might not be improper at my going into the country to acquaint Your Majesty that even while Lord Marlborough continues in your service, as well as when he finds himself obliged to leave it, if Your Majesty thinks fit to dispose of my employments, according to the solemn assurances you have been pleased to give me, you shall meet with all the submissions and acknowledgments imaginable.…”
There, she felt better. That would show Anne that if she did not wish to see Sarah, Sarah had no wish to be with her.
Anne read the letter and sighed. She was too preoccupied with poor dear George to give any attention to Sarah’s tantrums. In fact when she read the letter she felt somewhat relieved because lately she had simply not cared that Sarah should be angry and was secretly pleased when she stayed away from Court.
For the first time since she had met Sarah she did not care what Sarah thought of her.
It was escape from a long bondage.
The Prince’s health did not improve during that hot May and Anne discussed with Abigail the desirability of moving farther into the country. Windsor would be delightful but the castle was high and sudden winds, even in summer, could render it draughty. There was the little house in the forest close to the castle which Anne had acquired when her quarrel with her sister had made it impossible for her to reside in the castle.
It would be so much easier, said Abigail, to nurse the Prince in this small establishment; and there they would be free from formality.
Anne remembered an occasion when she had lived the simple country life with her boy in Twickenham and how happy they had all been.
She was sure Abigail was right and they set off, and taking few servants with them installed the dying Prince in the little house in the forest.
Here Anne was with him constantly, for he was uneasy if she was not in sight or within call.
“It breaks my heart to see him, Masham,” she said, and Abigail assured her that it was the most touching sight in the world to see them together.
Mr. Harley was a frequent caller and he enlivened those days made sad by the Prince’s illness, which they all knew was progressing towards the inevitable end.
Sarah, having received no reply to her letter, was very angry; she declared that the Queen had cruelly taken the dying Prince to this little hut which was as hot as an oven, because the chambermaid wished to invite her paramour, Harley, there.
Such malicious gossip did not reach the Queen’s ears; her days were filled by looking after her husband and talking to Mr. Harley, listening to Abigail’s music and conversation.
Dr. Arbuthnot and his wife were with them and she often told them what a comfort she found in the presence of the Mashams.
It was a simple life—strange and unreal to those who lived it because it was so remote from the Court.
Abigail, however, never ceased to think ahead; and one day when she was walking through the woods with Samuel she said to him: “I doubt the Prince will see the end of the year.”
Samuel was silent; like most people who served the Prince, he was fond of him.
“Has it occurred to you to wonder what will become of you when the Prince dies?”
She looked at him with a slightly contemptuous tenderness. She would always have to think for him.
“No?” she answered for him. “Well, there will be no place for you then. We will have to think, Samuel, my dear. Politics? The Army? Perhaps both. I will speak to the Queen. But not yet. I would not have her think that my mind ran on such practical matters. But when the Prince is dead, and that