Queen Henrietta Maria was coming to pay her son another visit, and Charles did not intend that she should arrive to find his wife pouting and his house in a turmoil. Determined to settle the issue for once and all, he sent for Barbara to come to Hampton Court.
One warm late-July afternoon Catherine’s drawing-room was crowded to capacity and many who could not force their way in stood in the anteroom. There was a sharp tension in the air which she felt but could not understand, unless it was because Charles had not yet appeared. In spite of herself she continued to look anxiously for him, over their heads toward the doorway. For he was always there, and even when he ignored her she could find some comfort in the mere fact of his presence. But now, feeling lonely and forsaken, she had to force herself to smile, bit the inside of her lower lip so that it would not tremble, swallowed hard over the lump in her throat.
Oh! she was thinking desperately, how I wish I’d never come to England! I wish I wasn’t married! I wish I was back home again! I was happy then—
Her memory returned with longing to the lazy still afternoons in the convent garden, washed with the hot Portuguese sun, when she had sat with her brush and palette trying to catch the sharp contrast of white walls and blue shadows, or had worked her needle and listened to the murmurous chant of prayers in the chapel. What a quiet safe world that was! She envied that Catherine for the things she had not known.
And then suddenly she saw him and her back stiffened, a cold wave washed over her and the sadness and the dreamy languor was gone. Alert, glad to see him though she knew he would pay her no attention, a little smile touched her mouth. How tall he is, she thought, and how handsome! Oh, I do love him! She had scarcely noticed that a woman—dressed in white lace that sparkled with silver sequins—walked by his side.
As they came forward the room fell into a hushed waiting silence, every eye watching, every ear straining to hear. It was not until Charles, in a low but perfectly distinct tone, had spoken the lady’s name that Catherine turned to look at her, holding out her hand to be kissed as the woman dropped to one knee.
At the same moment she felt a grasp on her shoulder and heard Penalva’s hiss in her ear: “It’s Castlemaine!”
Catherine’s hand jerked involuntarily, and her eyes turned to Charles, surprised, incredulous, questioning. But he was merely watching her, his face hard and speculative, his whole manner coolly defiant, as though daring her to refuse him now. She looked then at Lady Castlemaine, who had risen, and had a quick unforgettable glimpse of a beautiful face—the lips curled faintly, the eyes shining with triumph and mockery.
She turned suddenly sick and weak. The world began to swim and rock dizzily, a ringing in her ears drowned out every other sound, and the room blackened before her eyes. She pitched forward out of her chair, but was kept from falling by the quick restraining hands of two pages and the Countess of Penalva, who glared at Charles with cold and unrelenting hatred. A sudden look of horror crossed his face and involuntarily one hand went out. But he quickly remembered himself, stepped back, and stood there silently while the Queen was carried from the room.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
BECAUSE OF REX MORGAN’S place at Court, Amber was able to watch the King and Queen’s state entry into London from the roof of one of the Palace buildings along the Thames.
For as far as it was possible to see in both directions the shores were packed; on the water the barges lay so thick a man could have walked from Westminster Hall to Charing Cross Stairs on them. Banners whipped out in the brisk breeze, and garlands of flowers trailed in the water. Music played, and as the first of the great gilded state-barges appeared cannon went off, roaring along the river-front, while shouts echoed back from shore to shore and every bell-tower in the city began to rock clamorously.
Amber, her hair blowing about her face, was standing over in one corner, very close to the edge and trying hard to see everything. With her were three young men who had just come from Hampton Court and who had been telling her the story of how the Queen had fainted when Castlemaine was presented to her, and how angry the King had been, thinking she had done it on purpose to embarrass him.
“And since then,” one of them was saying, “the Lady’s gone to all the balls and entertainments and they say his Majesty is sleeping with her again.”
“Can you blame him?” demanded another. “She’s a mighty delicate creature—but as for that olivader skinned—”
“Well, damn me!” interrupted the third. “If there isn’t the Earl himself!”
Elbow-nudges and glances passed along the roof, but Roger Palmer ignored them all; and presently they turned their attention back to the pageant, for the great City barges were now moving by just below. A few minutes later, however, Barbara herself came up the stairway. She was followed by her handsome waiting-woman, Mrs. Wilson, and a nurse carrying her little son. She made a perfunctory curtsy to her husband, who bowed coldly, and immediately she was surrounded by the three young gallants who had left Amber with never a word of apology.
Angry and resentful, hot at the mere sight of this woman she despised, Amber gave her head a toss and turned away. At least I’ll not stare like a country-bumpkin at a puppet show! she thought furiously. But no one else seemed to have any such compunctions.
Not very much later she was surprised by the sound of a strangely familiar masculine voice, a hand on her shoulder, and she looked swiftly about to see the Earl of Almsbury grinning down at her. “Well, I’ll be damned!” he was saying. “If it isn’t Mrs. St. Clare!” He bent then and kissed her, and she was so charmed by the warmth of his smile, the admiration she saw in his eyes, that she forgave him on the instant for having neglected her when she was in Newgate.
“Why, Almsbury!”
The questions rose immediately to her tongue: Where’s Bruce? Have you seen him? Is he here? But her pride bit them down.
He stepped back now and his eyes went over her from head to toe. “You’re looking mighty prosperous, sweetheart! Matters have gone swimmingly with you, I doubt not—”
Amber forgot Luke Channell and Newgate and Whitefriars. She gave him a little smile with the corners of her mouth and answered airily. “Oh, well enough. I’m an actress now—in the Theatre Royal.”
“No! I’d heard they have females on the stage now—but you’re the first I’ve seen. I’ve been in the country for two years past.”
“Oh. Then maybe you never got my letter?”
“No—did you write me?”
She made a light gesture of dismissal. “Oh, it was a great while since. In December, a year and a half gone.”
“I left town just after—at the end of August in ’60. I tried to find you, but the host at the Royal Saracen said you’d packed and gone to parts unknown, and the next day I left myself for Herefordshire—his Majesty granted me my lands again.”
At that moment the noise about them swelled deafeningly, for the Royal barge had reached the pier and the King and Queen were getting out, while the Queen Mother came forward to meet them.
“Good Lord!” shouted Amber. “What the devil is her Majesty wearing?” From the distance the Queen’s propped-out skirts made her look almost as wide as she was tall, and as she moved they rocked and swayed precariously.
“It’s a farthingale!” bellowed Almsbury. “They wear ’em in Portugal!”
When at last the crowds began to break up Almsbury took her arm, asking if he might carry her to her lodgings. They turned, to find Barbara with a man’s wide-brimmed hat on her head, standing only a few feet away, and she gave Almsbury a wave and a smile, though her eyes slid with unmistakable hostility over Amber. Amber lifted her chin, lowered her lashes, and sailed by without a glance.