CHAPTER XVII: MACHINATIONS
"Baby born to woe."
F. T. PALGRAVE.
When Anne Woodford began to wake from the constant thought of thegrief and horror she had left at Portchester, and to feel more aliveto her surroundings and less as if they were a kind of dream, inwhich she only mechanically took her part, one thing impresseditself on her gradually, and that was disappointment. If theprevious shock had not blunted all her hopes and aspirations,perhaps she would have felt it sooner and more keenly; but she couldnot help realising that she had put herself into an inferiorposition whence there did not seem to be the promotion she had onceanticipated. Her companion rockers were of an inferior grade toherself. Jane Humphreys was a harmless but silly girl, not muchwiser, though less spoilt, than poor little Madam, and full ofCockney vulgarities. Education was unfashionable just then, andthough Hester Bridgeman was bettor born and bred, being the daughterof an attorney in the city, she was not much better instructed, andhad no pursuits except that of her own advantage. Pauline Dunordwas by far the best of the three, but she seemed to live a lifeapart, taking very little interest in her companions or anythingaround her except her devotions and the bringing them over to herChurch. The nursery was quite a separate establishment; there wasno mingling with the guests of royalty, who were only seen inexcited peeps from the window, or when solemnly introduced to thepresence chamber to pay their respects to the Prince. As to books,the only secular one that Anne saw while at Whitehall was an oddvolume of Parthenissa. The late King's summary of the Romancontroversy was to be had in plenty, and nothing was more evidentthan that the only road to favour or promotion was in being therebyconvinced.
"Don't throw it down as if it were a hot chestnut," said her Oriana."That's what they all do at first, but they come to it at last."
Anne made no answer, but a pang smote her as she thought of heruncle's warnings. Yet surely she might hope for other modes ofprospering, she who was certainly by far the best looking and besteducated of all the four, not that this served her much in herpresent company, and those of higher rank did not notice her at all.Princess Anne would surely recollect her, and then she might be safein a Protestant household, where her uncle would be happy about her.
The Princess had been at Bath when first she arrived, but at the endof a week preparations were made at the Cockpit, a sort of appendageto Whitehall, where the Prince and Princess of Denmark lived, and indue time there was a visit to the nursery. Standing in fullceremony behind Lady Powys, Anne saw the plump face and form sherecollected in the florid bloom of a young matron, not without acertain royal dignity in the pose of the head, though in grace andbeauty far surpassed by the tall, elegant figure and face of LadyChurchill, whose bright blue eyes seemed to be taking in everythingeverywhere. Anne's heart began to beat high at the sight of a oncefamiliar face, and with hopes of a really kind word from one who asan elder girl had made much of the pretty little plaything. ThePrincess Anne's countenance was, however, less good-natured thanusual; her mouth was made up to a sullen expression, and when herbrother was shown to her she did not hold out her arms to him norvouchsafe a kiss.
The Queen looked at her wistfully, asking--
"Is he not like the King?"
"Humph!" returned Princess Anne, "I see no likeness to any livingsoul of our family."
"Nay, but see his little nails," said the Queen, spreading the tinyhand over her finger. "See how like your father's they are framed!My treasure, you can clasp me!"
"My brother, Edgar! He was the beauty," said the Princess. "_He_was exactly like my father; but there's no judging of anything sopuny as this!"
"He was very suffering last week, the poor little angel," said themother sadly; "but they say this water-gruel is very nourishing, andnot so heavy as milk."
"It does not look as if it agreed with him," said the Princess."Poor little mammet! Did I hear that you had the little Woodfordhere? Is that you, girl?"
Anne courtesied herself forward.
"Ay, I remember you. I never forget a face, and you have grown upfair enough. Where's your mother?"
"I lost her last February, so please your Royal Highness."
"Oh! She was a good woman. Why did she not send you to me? Well,well! Come to my toilette to-morrow."
So Princess Anne swept away in her rich blue brocade. Her behestwas obeyed, of course, though it was evidently displeasing to thenursery authorities, and Lady Strickland gave a warning to bediscreet and to avoid gossip with the Cockpit folks.
Anne could not but be excited. Perhaps the Princess would ask forher, and take her into the number of her own attendants, where shewould no longer be in a Romish household, and would certainly be ina higher position. Why, she remembered that very Lady Churchill asSarah Jennings in no better a position than she could justly aspireto. Her coming to Court would thus be truly justified.
The Princess sat in a silken wrapper, called a night-gown, in herchamber, which had a richly-curtained bed in the alcove, and atoilet-table with a splendid Venetian mirror, and a good deal ofsilver sparkling on it, while a strange mixture of perfumes camefrom the various boxes and bottles. Ladies and tirewomen stood inattendance; a little black boy in a turban and gold-embroidereddress held a salver with her chocolate cup; a cockatoo soliloquisedin low whispers in the window; a monkey was chained to a pole at asafe distance from him; a French friseur was manipulating thePrincess's profuse brown hair with his tongs; and a needy-looking,pale thin man, in a semi-clerical suit, was half-reading, half-declaiming a poem, in which 'Fair Anna' seemed mixed up with Juno,Ceres, and other classical folk, but to which she was evidentlypaying very little attention.
"Ah! there you are, little one. Thank you, Master--what's name;that is enough. 'Tis a fine poem, but I never can remember which iswhich of all your gods and goddesses. Oh yes, I accept thededication. Give him a couple of guineas, Ellis; it will serve himfor board and lodging for a fortnight, poor wretch!" Then, aftergiving a smooth, well-shaped white hand to be kissed, and invitingher visitor to a cushion at her feet, she began a long series ofquestions, kindly ones at first, though of the minute gossipingkind, and extending to the Archfields, for poor young Madam had beenof the rank about which royalty knew everything in those days. Theinquiries were extremely minute, and the comments what from any oneelse, Anne would have thought vulgar, especially in the presence ofthe hairdresser, but her namesake observed her blush and hesitation,and said, "Oh, never mind a creature like that. He is French,besides, and does not understand a word we say."
Anne, looking over the Princess's head, feared that she saw atwinkle in the man's eye, and could only look down and try to ignorehim through the catechism that ensued, on when she came toWhitehall, on the Prince of Wales's health, the management of him,and all the circumstances connected with his birth.
Very glad was Anne that she knew nothing, and had not picked up anyinformation as to what had happened before she came to the palace.As to the present, Lady Strickland's warning and her own sense ofhonour kept her reticent to a degree that evidently vexed thePrincess, for she dropped her caressing manner, and sent her awaywith a not very kind, "You may go now; you will be turning Papistnext, and what would your poor mother say?"
And as Anne departed in backward fashion she heard Lady Churchillsay, "You will make nothing of her. She is sharper than sheaffects, and a proud minx! I see it in her carriage."
The visit had only dashed a few hopes and done her harm with herimmediate surroundings, who always disliked and distrustedintercourse with the other establishment.
However, in another day the nursery was moved to Richmond. This wasa welcome move to Anne, who had spent her early childhood nearenough to be sometimes taken thither, and to know the Park well, sothat there was a home feeling in the sight of the outline of thetrees and the scenery of the neighbourhood. The Queen intendedgoing to Bath, so that the establishment was only that of thePrince, and the life was much quieter on the whole; but there was nograti
fying any yearning for country walks, for it was not safe norperhaps decorous for one young woman to be out alone in a park opento the public and haunted by soldiers from Hounslow--nor couldeither of her fellow-rockers understand her preference for asecluded path through the woods. Miss Dunord never went out at all,except on duty, when the Prince was carried along the walks in thegarden, and the other two infinitely preferred the open spaces,where tables were set under the horse-chestnut trees for parties whoboated down from London to eat curds and whey, sometimes bringing afiddler so as to dance under the trees.
Jane Humphreys especially was always looking out for acquaintances,and once, with a cry of joy, a stout, homely-looking young womanstarted up, exclaiming, "Sister Jane!" and flew into her arms. Uponwhich Miss Woodford was introduced to 'My sister Coles' and herhusband, and had to sit down under a tree and share the festivities,while there was an overflow of inquiries and intelligence, domesticand otherwise. Certainly these were persons whom she would not havetreated as equals at home.
Besides, it was all very well to hear of the good old grandmother'srheumatics, and of little Tommy's teething, and even to see Janehang her head and be teased about remembering Mr. Hopkins; nor wasit wonderful to hear lamentations over the extreme dulness of thelife where one never saw a creature to speak to who was not as oldas the hills; but when it came to inquiries as minute as thePrincess's about the Prince of Wales, Anne thought the full detailslavishly poured out scarcely consistent with loyalty to their oathsof service and Lady Strickland's warning, and she told Jane so.
She was answered, "Oh la! what harm can it do? You are such a proudpeat! Grand-dame and sister like to know all about His RoyalHighness."
This was true; but Anne was far more uncomfortable two or three dayslater. The Prince was ailing, so much so that Lady Powys had sentan express for the Queen, who had not yet started for Bath, whenAnne and Jane, being relieved from duty by the other pair, went outfor a stroll.
"Oh la!" presently exclaimed Jane, "if that is not Colonel Sands,the Princess's equerry. I do declare he is coming to speak to us,though he is one of the Cockpit folks."
He was a very fine gentleman indeed, all scarlet and gold, and nowonder Jane was flattered and startled, so that she jerked her fanviolently up and down as he accosted her with a wave of his cockedhat, saying that he was rejoiced to meet these two fair ladies,having been sent by the Princess of Denmark to inquire for thehealth of the Prince. She was very anxious to know more than couldbe learnt by formal inquiry, he said, and he was happy to have metthe young gentlewomen who could gratify him.
The term 'gentlewoman' highly flattered Miss Humphreys, who blushedand bridled, and exclaimed, "Oh la, sir!" but Anne thought itneedful to say gravely--
"We are in trust, sir, and have no right to speak of what passeswithin the royal household."
"Madam, I admire your discretion, but to the--(a-hem)--sister ofthe--(a-hem)--Prince of Wales it is surely uncalled for."
"Miss Woodford is so precise," said Jane Humphreys, with a giggle;"I do not know what harm can come of saying that His Royal Highnesspeaks and pines just as he did before."
"He is none the better for country air then?"
"Oh no? except that he cries louder. Such a time as we had lastnight! Mrs. Royer never slept a wink all the time I was there, butwalked about with him all night. You had the best of it, MissWoodford."
"He slept while I was there," said Anne briefly, not thinking itneedful to state that the tired nurse had handed the child over toher, and that he had fallen asleep in her arms. She tried to put anend to the conversation by going indoors, but she was vexed to findthat, instead of following her closely, Miss Humphreys was stilllingering with the equerry.
Anne found the household in commotion. Pauline met her, weepingbitterly, and saying the Prince had had a fit, and all hope wasover, and in the rockers' room, she found Hester Bridgemanexclaiming that her occupation was gone. Water-gruel, she had nodoubt, had been the death of the Prince. The Queen was come, andwellnigh distracted. She had sent out in quest of a wet-nurse, butit was too late; he was going the way of all Her Majesty's children.
Going down again together the two girls presently had to stand asideas the poor Queen, seeing and hearing nothing, came towards her ownroom with her handkerchief over her face. They pressed each other'shands awe-stricken, and went on to the nursery. There Mrs. Labadiewas kneeling over the cradle, her hood hanging over her face, cryingbitterly over the poor little child, who had a blue look about hisface, and seemed at the last gasp, his features contorted by aconvulsion.
At that moment Jane Humphreys was seen gently opening the door andletting in Colonel Sands, who moved as quietly as possible, to givea furtive look at the dying child. His researches were cut short,however. Lady Strickland, usually the gentlest of women, darted outand demanded what he was doing in her nursery.
He attempted to stammer some excuse about Princess Anne, but LadyStrickland only answered by standing pointing to the door and he wasforced to retreat in a very undignified fashion.
"Who brought him?" she demanded, when the door was shut. "ThoseCockpit folk are not to come prying here, hap what may!"
Miss Humphreys had sped away for fear of questions being asked, andattention was diverted by Mrs. Royer arriving with a stout, healthy-looking young woman in a thick home-spun cloth petticoat, nostockings, and old shoes, but with a clean white cap on her head--atilemaker's wife who had been captured in the village.
No sooner was the suffering, half-starved child delivered over toher than he became serene and contented. The water-gruel regime wasover, and he began to thrive from that time. Even when later in theafternoon the King himself brought in Colonel Sands, whom in the joyof his heart he had asked to dine with him, the babe lay tranquillyon the cradle, waving his little hands and looking happy.
The intrusion seemed to have been forgotten, but that afternoonAnne, who had been sent on a message to one of the Queen's ladies,more than suspected that she saw Jane in a deep recess of a windowin confabulation with the Colonel. And when they were alone at bed-time the girl said--
"Is it not droll? The Colonel cannot believe that 'tis the samechild. He has been joking and teasing me to declare that we have adead Prince hidden somewhere, and that the King showed him thebrick-bat woman's child."
"How can you prattle in that mischievous way--after what LadyStrickland said, too? You do not know what harm you may do!"
"Oh lack, it was all a jest!"
"I am not so sure that it was."
"But you will not tell of me, dear friend, you will not. I neversaw Lady Strickland like that; I did not know she could be in such arage."
"No wonder, when a fellow like that came peeping and prying like araven to see whether the poor babe was still breathing," cried Anneindignantly. "How could you bring him in?"
"Fellow indeed! Why he is a colonel in the Life-guards, and thePrincess's equerry; and who has a right to know about the child ifnot his own sister--or half-sister?"
"She is not a very loving sister," replied Anne. "You know well,Jane, how many would not be sorry to make out that it is as that manwould fain have you say."
"Well, I told him it was no such thing, and laughed the very notionto scorn."
"It were better not to talk with him at all."
"But you will not speak of it. If I were turned away my fatherwould beat me. Nay, I know not what he might not do to me. Youwill not tell, dear darling Portia, and I will love you for ever."
"I have no call to tell," said Anne coldly, but she was disgustedand weary, and moreover not at all sure that she, as the otherProtestant rocker, and having been in the Park on that same day, wasnot credited with some of the mischievous gossip that had passed.
"There, Portia, that is what you get by walking with that stupidHumphreys," said Oriana. "She knows no better than to blab to anyone who will be at the trouble to seem sweet upon her, though shemay get nothing by it."
"Would it b
e better if she did?" asked Anne.
"Oh well, we must all look out for ourselves, and I am sure there isno knowing what may come next. But I hear we are to move to Windsoras soon as the child is strong enough, so as to be farther out ofreach of the Cockpit tongues."
This proved to be true, but the Prince and his suite were not lodgedin the Castle itself, a house in the cloisters being thought moresuitable, and here the Queen visited her child daily, for since thatlast alarm she could not bear to be long absent from him. Suchemissaries as Colonel Sands did not again appear, but after thatprecedent Lady Strickland had become much more unwilling to allowany of those under her authority to go out into any public place,and the rockers seldom got any exercise except as swelling thePrince's train when he was carried out to take the air.
Anne looked with longing eyes at the Park, but a ramble there was aforbidden pleasure. She could not always even obtain leave toattend St. George's Chapel; the wish was treated as a sort ofweakness, or folly, and she was always the person selected to stayat home when any religious ceremony called away the rest of theestablishment.
As the King's god-daughter it was impressed on her that she ought toconform to his Church, and one of the many priests about the Courtwas appointed to instruct her. In the dearth of all intellectualintercourse, and the absolute deficiency of books, she could not butbecome deeply interested in the arguments. Her uncle had forearmedher with instruction, and she wrote to him on any difficulty whicharose, and this became the chief occupation of her mind, distractingher thoughts from the one great cloud that hung over her memory.Indeed one of the foremost bulwarks her feelings erected to fortifyher conscience against the temptations around, was the knowledgethat she would have, though of course under seal of confession, torelate that terrible story to a priest.
Hester Bridgeman could not imagine how her Portia could endure tohear the old English Prayer-book droned out. For her part, sheliked one thing or the other, either a rousing Nonconformist sermonin a meeting-house or a splendid Mass.
"But, after all," as Anne overheard her observing to Miss Dunord,"it may be all the better for us. What with her breeding and herforeign tongues, she would be sure to be set over our heads asunder-governess, or the like, if she were not such an obstinateheretic, and keeping that stupid Humphreys so. We could haveconverted her long ago, if it were not for that Woodford and for herCity grand-dame! Portia is the King's godchild, too, so it is justas well that she does not see what is for her own advantage."
"I do not care for promotion. I only want to save my own soul andhers," said Pauline. "I wish she would come over to the trueChurch, for I could love her."
And certainly Pauline Dunord's gentle devotional example, and herperfect rest and peace in the practice of her religion, were stronginfluences with Anne. She was waiting till circumstances shouldmake it possible to her to enter a convent, and in the meantime shelived a strictly devout life, abstracted as far as duty and kindnesspermitted from the little cabals and gossipry around.
Anne could not help feeling that the girl was as nearly a saint asany one she had ever seen--far beyond herself in goodness.Moreover, the Queen inspired strong affection. Mary Beatrice wasnot only a very beautiful person, full of the grace and dignity ofthe House of Este, but she was deeply religious, good and gentle,kindly and gracious to all who approached her, and devoted to herhusband and child. A word or look from her was always a delight,and Anne, by her knowledge of Italian, was able sometimes to obtaina smiling word or remark.
The little Prince, after those first miserable weeks of his life,had begun to thrive, and by and by manifested a decided preferencenot only for his beautiful mother, but for the fresh face, brightsmile, and shining brown eyes of Miss Woodford. She could almostalways, with nods and becks, avert a passion of roaring, whichsometimes went beyond the powers of even his foster-mother, thetiler's wife. The Queen watched with delight when he laughed andflourished his arms in response, and the King was summoned to seethe performance, which he requited by taking out a fat gold watchset with pearls, and presenting it to Anne, as his grave gloomy facelighted up with a smile.
"Are you yet one of us?" he asked, as she received his gift on herknee.
"No, sir, I cannot--"
"That must be amended. You have read his late Majesty's paper?"
"I have, sir."
"And seen Father Giverlai?"
"Yes, please your Majesty."
"And still you are not convinced. That must not be. I would gladlyconsider and promote you, but I can only have true Catholics aroundmy son. I shall desire Father Crump to see you."