Free Victoria in the Wings: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy Page A

you.’
    ‘And I you, my darling.’
    ‘I’ve been longing for a game of chess, of all things. That seems so trivial … and yet …’
    ‘I know,’ he said. ‘I know. I have in fact been sent on a mission … for George.’
    ‘A mission?’
    ‘Yes, to Germany.’
    ‘I see.’ She did not ask what. She was discreet enough for that. A mission could be anything. She would not associate it with courtship. He should tell her, but he could not. The words would not come. He who could face the most barbarous enemy could not face her. It was cruel but he must do his duty.
    ‘And you will be away long?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t suppose so.’
    ‘Then you’ll come back to Brussels, I suppose.’
    ‘I shall have to report to London first.’
    ‘Just briefly,’ she said. ‘And then you’ll be back.’
    He had to let it rest there. He could not be so brutal. Besides, this Victoria might refuse him. They might not be able to find a bride for him.
    He had asked George to keep the matter secret so that she did not hear through the press. George would do what he could. He was always gallant to women and it would grieve him to make Julie suffer more than was necessary.
    He would stay here for two days before going on to Wald-Leiningen, and who knew perhaps he would never have to tell her how near he had come to deserting her.
    The Princess Victoria was thoughtful. She had always known that she was too young to remain unmarried for the rest of her life, for she was only thirty-one years of age. She had two delightful children, healthy and good looking; it was natural that there should be suitors.
    Her brother Leopold, now mourning the Princess Charlotte at Claremont, had written to her. He believed that nothing could be more suitable than a marriage with the Duke of Kent. Hedesired it and he hoped that as his dear sister had done him the honour in other important matters of taking his advice, she would in this one.
    Victoria considered.
    There were certain things a widow must give up if she married again. Freedom was rather pleasant and so rarely enjoyed by German princesses; but since the death of her husband, Prince Emich Charles, she had enjoyed it; merely in her household of course, but the castle of Wald-Leiningen was her little world and she was complete mistress of it.
    There were the children to consider. Charles and Feodore. She adored them and they her, in spite of this discipline she enforced. She was a woman who liked to have her own way, but, she always reminded herself, it was for the good of others.
    Leopold was her favourite brother, although younger than she was. There had been great rejoicing in the family when he had married Princess Charlotte, heir to the throne of England. Young Charlotte had loved him passionately, which was small wonder for Leopold was handsome and attractive in every way, although very serious; but that in the Princess Victoria’s eyes was a virtue. The Princess Charlotte must have thought so too for by all accounts Leopold was the only one who could subdue her – and she loved him for it.
    And then the bitter tragedy! The death of Charlotte in childbirth and the misery of poor dear Leopold who had loved his wife so tenderly and had believed that he was to be the father of a future King of England.
    And it was due to Charlotte’s death that she was facing her present problem now. The loss of Charlotte meant an imperative need to marry and produce an heir quickly among the King’s sons; and the Duke of Kent was one of them.
    She heard the sound of children’s voices and looking from her window she saw Charles and Feodore riding into the court-yard with their grooms. Little Feodore was ten years old and was going to be a beauty, and Charles was a boy to be proud of. He was now waving the groom aside and helping Feodore out of the saddle. He was very courteous, her young Charles. They would change from their riding habits and present themselves in herdrawing-room, for the Duke of Kent was