So perhaps that explained their hesitancy - the necessarily delicate nature of this bargain. The king was offering - in his subde, elliptical way - to find me a husband in a year or so, if I would dedicate myself to continuing Madame’s work in the meantime. Well, of course that was a proposal I was eager to accept. I bowed my head. ‘I am Your Majesty’s humble servant.’
‘Good.’ The king got to his feet. ‘I will leave Lionne to give you all the details. But remember this, my dear: the work you do for us in the coming months may be more valuable to Erance than a thousand warships.’
It seemed to me, at the time, that this was a remarkable suggestion for a Idng to make to a mere lady-in-waiting, and for a time I could scarcely believe my good fortune. It was many months, years even, before I understood how carefully they had played me.
88
PART TWO
‘Must we abandon the Great Affair? It is to be feared that the grief of the King of England, which is deeper than can be imagined, and the malevolent talk and the rumours of our adversaries, will spoil everything.’
Colbert de Croissy, French ambassador in London, to Lionne, French Secretary of State, July, 1670
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Carlo
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A simple lemon cream is the noblest of ices, and may be easily assembled when others are uncertain.
The Book of Ices
This, then, was the land to which I had been exiled: a low bank of grey mud that gradually spht apart and became the two sides of an estuary. On the silvery mudflats, pocked with the crests left by seagulls’ feet, a few ramshackle farms stood out against the horizon. Except for some scrawny pigs, they seemed abandoned. The people must have been indoors, sheltering from the freezing rain: I would have done the same, but the boat had been put to use recently carrying animal dung, and my court-accustomed palate was still too refined to bear the stench below decks. Besides, I was fascinated by this country - fascinated and also appalled: by its drab meanness, its dullness, the way it lifted itself out of the grey water reluctantly, by slow degrees, so different from the dazzling crags and welcoming harbours of Italy or France.
At last, as the estuary narrowed and became a river mouth, there were settlements of some kind, docks. I shielded my eyes with my hand. The buildings were the same dreary brown as the mud, the roofs covered in some kind of dark straw. I have come to a country without colours^ I thought, and it was not only the cold that made me shiver.
I recalled the occasion on which I had received my orders; from the great Lionne himself, in his vast office in the Louvre.
‘We are currently engaged in a diplomatic operation of no little delicacy, which may affect the whole course of our mihtary campaign. I am pleased to tell you that, despite your recent disgrace,
you are in the fortunate position of being able to be of service to His Most Christian Majesty in this matter . .
I was not being given a choice, that much had been clear. Always, beneath the surface, lay the unspoken threat. Madame’s death remained^ a mystery, despite the doctors’ best efforts, and rumours of poison or medical incompetence still swirled around the court.
‘It is reported that the English monarch. King Charles, is prostrate with grief When he heard the news about his sister he locked himself in his closet. For three days no one was allowed to enter, not even his physicians.’
Lionne paused. ‘Our own king, of course, grieves too. But appropriately. Louis would never allow himself to become so unmanned.’
I had nodded my assent, still unsure where this was leading. If only I had listened when those around me discussed the finer points of these political issues.
Lionne came around his desk and began to pace to the window and back. ‘In the case of the English king, it would appear that grief has actually unseated his reason. This formerly pleasure-loving, France-inclining prince has somehow got it in his head that his beloved sister was murdered by her husband, and that we are hiding it from him. He has dismissed his tailor, cast off his mistress, and plunged his whole court into the deepest mourning. Instead of parties and pageants, he now devotes himself solely to government and the interests of his country. Instead of allowing his generals to prepare for the glories of war, he havers, and talks of making economies instead. He walks great distances through the countryside, quite alone, and falls into conversation with his subjects, who tell him frankly that they are not happy with his policies to date: instead of rebuking them for their presumption, he shows every sign of agreeing.’
Lionne shrugged his shoulders eloquently at the folly of foreign
kings. ‘And so the merry monarch has become the sovereign of sorrows. And France, of all countries, suffers for it.’
Going back to his desk, he regarded me over the steeple of his hands. ‘His Most Christian Majesty has decided, therefore, that he will give his English cousin a gift. Something to restore the royal spirits, as a token of the esteem in which he holds their continuing alliance.’
Ah yes, the alliance. If Louis wanted to persuade Charles that their treaty must outlive Madame’s death, then the gift would clearly have to be a very special one indeed.
‘His Most Christian Majesty has decided to give King Charles ... an ice.’ A frosty smile touched Lionne’s eyes. ‘That is where you come in, of course.’
I said hesitantly, ‘Naturally, I would be honoured to assist His Majesty in this project. But the secrets of my profession are closely protected. If I were to allow them to be given to an English cook, would not my fellow confectioners accuse me of betraying their livelihoods?’
‘It seems they may do so already. There is a master confectioner in Florence, I understand, who believes himself slighted by a servant boy.’ Lionne lifted a document from the table in front of him and gave me an enquiring look. I said nothing, but my heart sank. Somehow, I knew, Audiger had a hand in this.
‘In any case, we are not suggesting that you give away your knowledge. Far from it. It is the very fact that these methods remain secret that makes His Majesty’s gift so generous.’
The minister fixed me with his lofty gaze. ‘In order to give King Charles the ice, we must give him the ice maker. Do you see?’
I stared at him. Even in my most despairing moments, I had not imagined anything like this. ‘I am being sent away? Banished?’