The shortsighted eyes were turned on Abigail. The lips smiled in a very kindly fashion.
“I am pleased to see any relation of Lady Marlborough.”
“I have found places for the whole of the family,” went on Sarah, and added as though Abigail were not present: “This is the last of them. She has been making herself useful at St. Albans while she has been waiting.”
Anne nodded almost sleepily and Lady Marlborough signed to Abigail which meant she must kneel and kiss the Princess’s hands.
The beautiful hand was given her; Abigail kissed it; Lady Marlborough nodded. That was the sign for Abigail to retire. Waiting for her outside the door was a woman who would take her to the apartment she would occupy and explain her duties to her.
As she left she heard the Princess say: “Now my dear Mrs. Freeman, you must tell me all your news …”
Abigail knew that the Princess Anne had already forgotten she existed.
IN THE PRINCESS’S APARTMENTS
Having married Henrietta satisfactorily, Sarah was looking round for a suitable bridegroom for Anne. There was one family whom she considered worthy to join the triumvirate she had decided on; and that was the Spencers.
Robert Spencer, the second Earl of Sunderland, was a wily politician, a slippery statesman; Marlborough himself did not like him; Sarah had at one time hated him, had maligned him and his wife and persuaded the Princess Anne to do the same in her letters to her sister Mary when the latter was in Holland. But there could be no doubt in Sarah’s mind that Sunderland was a man they could not afford to have against them.
The Earl had a son Charles who had married Lady Arabella Cavendish some years before; shortly after Henrietta’s marriage Lady Arabella died and Charles, Sarah decided, would need a wife. Why not Anne?
The Spencers were wealthy; Charles was a Whig, it was true, and Marlborough was a Tory; but Sarah was a little more inclined to Whiggery than her husband and she did not regard this as an obstacle. Charles Spencer had already made a name for himself with his democratic notions when he had declared that he would, when the time came refuse the title of Lord and be known as Charles Spencer; he was, according to Sarah, a prig of a Whig, disapproving of his father whose conduct had at times been quite scandalous. But Sarah believed herself capable of directing her son-in-law in the way he would have to go.
Perhaps she was more interested in his colourful father. Robert Spencer, the second earl of Sunderland, had had an exciting career. Feigning fidelity to James II, he had even gone so far as to pose as a Catholic in order to find a way into his favours, while at the same time corresponding through his wife—as wild a character as himself—with the Orange Court supporting the plan to bring William and Mary to England.
Sunderland had been the object of scandal more than once in his life. A young man, with a gay past behind him, deciding to settle down and marry, he chose Anne Digby daughter of the Earl of Bristol, a match which seemed doubly advantageous, for the young lady was not only beautiful but rich. But before the marriage could take place Sunderland had disappeared, having, he afterwards explained, no stomach for matrimony; but he was brought back and the ceremony took place. His wife was an intriguer who, far from being put out by her bridegroom’s conduct, welcomed it, for it gave her an opportunity of pursuing her own colourful life. Very soon she formed an attachment to Henry Sidney, her husband’s uncle and one of the most attractive men at Court, who had earned for himself the title of The Terror of Husbands. He was even suspected by the Duke of York of making love to the first Duchess, Anne Hyde, and dismissed from Court for a period because of this.
Sunderland however bore no grudges on account of his wife’s infidelity. She and he had agreed that one of the ways to favours in those days was the courting of the King’s mistresses and this they did by providing lavish entertainments which, since they were given in honour of the King’s mistresses, obviously brought the King to their table. When Charles was enamoured of Louise de Keroualle and she wanted a guarantee of security before she succumbed, it was Lady Sunderland who arranged what she called a “wedding” for King Charles and the French woman and this was celebrated at the Sunderlands’ house.
But with the passing of Charles and the coming to the throne of James it was necessary to decide where it was necessary to bestow one’s allegiance. Sunderland was an opportunist—so while he pretended to support James he was in league with William of Orange that he might be ready to leap whichever way would bring him most advantage.
William was shrewd; he did not trust Sunderland; in fact no one trusted Sunderland. Yet he was a man whom no one could ignore. When Queen Mary had died and William was disturbed as to whether his subjects would continue to accept him as King, it was Sunderland who had shrewdly arranged a reconciliation between the King and the Princess Anne, which William had realized afterwards was the best method of placating those who were against him.
Sunderland was a man of brilliance and William could not afford to do without him—nor, decided Sarah, could the Marlboroughs.
Sarah considered the possibilities of alliance. His son, Charles Spencer, in himself would be an excellent parti. Robert Spencer, Sunderland’s eldest son, had led a profligate life and died some ten years before; thus Charles was the heir. There had been a third son who had died as a child, and four daughters, two of whom were dead. The vast Spencer wealth would be at Charles’s disposal; Charles was a brilliant politician, and Sunderland was one of the most influential men in the country. So union with the Spencers was necessary.
When Sarah told her husband this he was disturbed.
“Charles Spencer for our young Anne,” he demanded.
“Young Anne! Really, Marl, what are you thinking? You still see her as a child. She is not I assure you. She will soon be as old as Henrietta was when she married; and look what a success that marriage was.”
“I don’t like Charles Spencer.”
“Why should you? You don’t have to marry him.”
“But our little girl …”
“She has been brought up to look after herself. Have no fear she will do that.”
“No,” said Marlborough, “I don’t like it.”
Sarah sighed. Not only had she to arrange this difficult match, but she must make her husband see that it was necessary.
She set to work in her usual indefatigable manner.
Since Marlborough was not eager for the match Sarah herself sounded Sunderland, who at once grasped the importance of what she was trying to do.
By God, thought Sunderland, they already have Godolphin. With Marlborough and myself, the three of us would be invincible.
To Sarah’s delight he was wholeheartedly enthusiastic.
“My daughter is a very beautiful and charming girl,” said Sarah.
“I am sure, having such a mother, she could be nothing else,” was Sunderland’s reply.
Sarah waved such flattery aside impatiently. “My Lord Marlborough, however, is not in great favour of the match.”
“And why not, I pray you tell me.”
“Oh, Lord Spencer is a Whig and my lord is a staunch Tory.”
“My son would be guided by me in all matters of importance.”
Would he? wondered Sarah. She remembered how the Whiggish prig had denounced his father’s conduct. But that was of no great concern. If Sunderland could not manage his son, she would manage her son-in-law. The important point was to have the three most powerful families together.
“I will tell Lord Marlborough what you say,” she replied; “it might influence him.”