Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill - Plaidy Jean - Страница 15

'My dearest Georgiana,' sighed the Prince, 'how can you persist in being cruel to me?'

'My dearest Highness, I am in truth being kind to us both.'

Adventures of a Prince G7

How could that be when you know that my most urgent wish is to have you love me as I love you.'

'I intend to be Your Highness's friend through life. It is so much easier to be a constant friend than a constant mistress.'

'I would be constant for ever.'

'Your Highness, I think Lady Melbourne is regarding you a little anxiously.'

'You have but to say the word and there should be no one but you.'

Georgiana laughed and did not take him seriously. Her husband the Duke was not interested in her, nor she in him; but Georgiana had no intention of becoming the mistress of the Prince of Wales. It was a position which she did not think any woman could hold for any length of time; and it was surely better not to set oneself on such a slippery perch. Their relationship was far more satisfactory as it was.

'I see Charles is there with Sherry and Amoret. What a beautiful creature she is. I'm not surprised that Sherry adores her.'

'All beauties pale before your own,' said the Prince.

And Georgiana laughed. 'Exactly what I would have expected my gallant Prince to say. Sherry would not agree with you.'

'He adores you, too.'

'Dear Sherry, he is my very good friend. And Charles ... I do declare his frock-coat is threadbare. How dare he come to Carlton House dressed in such a slovenly manner.'

'Charles knows that he may dare what he will as far as I am concerned. It is not his coat I welcome here but the man inside it.'

'Right royally spoken. Fortunate Charles! I should have thought Lizzie Armistead would have taken better care of him.'

'You must admit that he looks a little cleaner since being in her care.'

'Let us come and talk to them. It is always such fun to talk to Charles. His great merit is his amazing quickness in seizing any subject. He seems to have a talent for knowing more of what he is talking about than anyone else. His conversation is like a

briliiant player at billiards—the strokes follow one another— piff-paftV

'And you suggest I should frown on his coat!'

'No, no, I do not. I merely wonder that he should wrap so much that is charming in such a disreputable package.'

The Prince and Georgiana had paused at the little group who bowed ceremoniously in recognition of royalty; and then immediately relaxed.

Sheridan, Georgiana noticed, had been drinking heavily. It saddened her; he was not as capable of carrying his drink as Charles.

'Sherry,' she admonished, 'if you drink so much you will destroy the coat of your stomach.'

'Then my stomach must just digest in its waistcoat,' retorted Sheridan.

Oh, yes, it was pleasant to be with these people who so amused him and flattered him with their attention. They talked politics, for they were all Whigs together, until it was time for supper. Five rooms were used for this purpose and the Prince with his special guests was accommodated in the grand escaglio room. He had Georgiana on his right and had arranged that Fox and Sheridan were not far away so that they could enjoy some enlivening conversation.

'Your Highness must be living beyond your means,' whispered Fox.

'I hadn't given the matter a thought,' admitted the Prince.

'Ah, what will be the end of this riotous living? Methinks we should see that the means fit the end.'

The Prince laughed. He could trust Fox. It was Fox who had tried to get ?100,000 a year for him and no fault of his that he had had to be content with a miserable ?62,000; it was Fox who had extricated him from that affair with Perdita when she had demanded he honour the bond he had given her and wanted ?5,000 for those revealing letters.

Oh, yes, he could trust Fox.

Over supper the conversation turned to the eccentric conduct of Major Hanger at one of the balls at St. James's Palace a few evenings earlier. The Prince was telling Charles Fox about it.

'Stab mc, but he came in the uniform of an officer of the Hessian service—and mighty strange he looked among all the satins and brocades. His short blue coat was ornamented with gold frogs and there was a band across his shoulders from which his sword hung. What a spectacle! Even the King could not suppress a smile ... and it is no mean achievement, I do assure you, to make my father smile. But the Major did it when he put on his Kevenhiiller hat with two huge feathers—black and white—and invited Miss Gunning to join him in a minuet. Poor lady! Such a graceful, beautiful creature, but what could she do? She simply gave up. We laughed. I was convulsed ... and as I said the King smiled and my mother came as near to it as she's able. But that wasn't the end. You should have seen the gallant Major in a country dance.'

The Prince continued to laugh at the memory of it and stopped suddenly. 'Why should we not write a letter of congratulations to the Major. Say it was written in the name of the whole company who saw him perform. I will compile it and it shall be written in a handwriting the Major will not know.'

The Prince gazed round the table. 'You, Sherry. He does not know you. You shall be the writer of our letter.'

'It has always been my aim to write for Your Majesty's pleasure.'

'This will be as good as a play, I promise you.'

'Other men's plays, perhaps Highness. Not mine.'

'But other men's plays can be highly diverting sometimes, Sherry. And as you will have a hand in this affair you may lend us a touch of your genius.'

'How can I repay your graciousness, sir, but by complying with Your Highness's desires.'

'It shall be done after supper and delivered to the Major first thing tomorrow morning.' The Prince laughed, thinking of the Major's reactions when he received the note.

He talked of the Major through supper and as soon as it was over left his guests and taking Fox, Sheridan and a few favourite companions with him retired to an ante-room to wTite the letter.

Writing had always given him great pleasure and he could

never see a pen without wanting to pick it up and compose flowery sentences. It was this habit which had proved so disastrous in the Perdita affair.

Now he sat down and with his friends looking over his shoulder wrote:

'St. James's, Sunday morning 'The company who attended the ball on Friday last at St. James's present their compliments to Major Hanger and return him their unfeigned thanks for the variety with which he enlivened the insipidity of the evening's entertainment. The gentlemen want words to describe their admiration of the truly grotesque and humorous figure which he exhibited; and the ladies beg leave to express their acknowledgments for the lively and animated emotions that his stately, erect and perpendicular form could not fail to excite in their delicate and susceptible bosoms. His gesticulations and martial deportment were truly admirable and have raised an impression which will not soon be effaced at St. James's.'

The Prince ended with a flourish.

'Now, Sherry, Hanger does not know your handwriting, and I flatter myself there is a touch of style about that letter which could be attributed to you. So, I pray you, copy it out and tomorrow it shall be despatched to our entertaining Major and I am sure from such a character we can expect some fun.'

Sheridan sat down and copied the letter.

'First thing in the morning,' chuckled the Prince, 'it shall be delivered; and soon afterwards I shall send him an invitation to dine with me. You, my dear Sherry, will not I trust take it amiss if for once you are not included in the invitation.'

Sheridan bowed: 'Always ready to forego my greatest pleasures in the service of Your Highness.'