Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria (82 page)

“I doubt not that she would—should your paths cross.”

Barbara had turned pale. She said quietly, “I beg you eat of this pheasant. I had it specially prepared for you.”

She held out the dish to him; her blue eyes were downcast.

For the rest of the meal she did not mention the Queen, but she became gay and amusing, as she well knew how to be. She was soothing; she was the Barbara he had always hoped she would be, and her pregnancy had softened the rather hard beauty of her face; and lying on a couch, a brilliantly colored rug hid her awkwardness, and her lovely auburn hair fell loose about her bare shoulders.

After a while others came to join them, and Barbara was merry. And when they had gone, and left the King along with her—as it was their custom to do—he stayed talking to her, and she was tenderly tearful, telling him that she was sorry for her vicious ways towards him, and that she hoped in the future—should she live—to improve her manners.

He begged her not to talk of dying, but Barbara declared she had a feeling that she might not be long for this world. The ordeal of childbirth was no light matter, and when one had suffered during the weeks of pregnancy as she had suffered, death was often the result.

“You suffer?” asked the King.

“From jealousy, I fear. Oh, I am to blame, but that did not lessen my suffering. I think of all the sins I have committed, as one does when one approaches death, and I longed for a chance to lead a better life. Yet, Charles, there is one thing I could never do. I could never give you up. Always I shall be there if you should want me. I would rather face damnation than lose you.”

The King was disturbed. Not that he entirely believed her, but he thought she must be feeling very weak to be in such a chastened mood. He comforted her; she made him swear that he would not let this marriage interfere with their relationship; she must have a post which would result in her seeing him frequently; but she knew that, if she lived, she would have it, for had he not promised her the post in his wife's bedchamber? She would be content with that, but she could never give him up.

“No matter,” she said, “if a hundred queens came to marry you bringing millions of bags of sugar and spices, still there would be one to love you till she died—your poor Barbara.”

And to be with Barbara, meek and submissive, was an adventure too strange and exciting to be missed.

It was early morning before he left Barbara's house, and all London
took notice that the King passed the night at his mistress's house while his Queen lay lonely at Portsmouth. Outside the big houses of the city, bonfires had been lighted in honor of the Queen's coming, but it was seen that there was none outside the door of that house in which the King spent the night with Lady Castlemaine.

Copyright © 1985 by Jean Plaidy

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Three Rivers Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

www.crownpublishing.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Plaidy, Jean, 1906–1993

Victoria victorious: the story of Queen Victoria/Jean Plaidy. —1st ed. 1. Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819–1901—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901—Fiction. 3. Queens—Great Britain—Fiction. I. Title.

PR6015.I3V5 2005

823'.914—dc22

2004026984

eISBN: 978-0-307-49852-6

v3.0