‘You don’t know him as I do.’
‘He is a sentimental man … and I’ll swear at heart he is fond of you. Be tactful. He must supply the money. It is important to him that there should be no more family scandals. Do as I say and in a short while when this unfortunate matter is over you will see that it was the only way in which you could have acted.’
‘And Charles … you will be my ambassador with Perdita?’
‘I will. And I’ll swear that if you will face up to this interview, painful as I know it is going to be, you will very soon be able to put this matter behind you – and little harm will have been done.’
‘Charles, I rely on you.’
‘In which,’ said Mr Fox with a bow, ‘Your Highness shows your wisdom.’
The Prince humbly requested an audience with his father, which the King willingly granted. The terms in which the request was written pleased him. His son showed a proper – and unusual – respect.
He’s growing up, thought the King. He was wayward at first … but so are most young men.
He was in a mellow mood as he greeted the Prince who, he noticed, had what might be called a hangdog expression.
‘You have something to say to me, eh?’
‘Yes, Father, and I am going to ask Your Majesty’s indulgence for the follies of youth.’
‘What’s this, eh, what?’ The King shot a suspicious glance at his son. Such humility was a little disturbing. ‘Go on, go on,’ he commanded. ‘What are these follies, eh?’
‘I have to confess that I have formed an … an association with an actress.’
‘I know. I know.’
‘A Mrs Robinson who played at Drury Lane with Sheridan’s company.’
‘Can’t abide the fellow,’ said the King. ‘Drinks, gambles … leads that nice woman a life. Pity she married him. He’s not faithful to her. Rackets about the town. Don’t like the fellow. Friend of Fox.’
The Prince saw it was a mistake to have mentioned Sheridan.
‘Well, Father, this woman is no longer … my friend.’
‘Come to your senses, eh? Perhaps time you were married. Bit young. I was young myself … but perhaps it’s best.’
The interview was going badly. The outcome might be that his father would discover some plump German princess for him. That he would stand out against with all his strength. If his father would wait until he was twenty-one he would have some say in the matter … but if he should produce the woman now … But he was straying from the unpleasant point and the sooner this was reached the better.
‘I wrote her letters … foolish letters.’
The effect on the King of that word letters was great. His mouth slightly open, he stared at his son.
‘It was foolish,’ admitted the Prince. ‘I know that now. I’ve learned my lesson.’
‘Letters?’ breathed the King. ‘It’s like that fool Cumberland all over again. What possessed you, eh? Letters! Don’t you know better than that, eh, what?’
‘I do now,’ said the Prince.
‘Letters,’ murmured the King. He looked at his son and thought of the folly of youth; and Hannah Lightfoot’s image rose up before him. Remember your own youth, George. Were you so wise? ‘Not letters,’ he mumbled.
‘Yes, Father, I fear so. She has them and she is threatening to publish them.’
The King closed his eyes.
‘There is only one thing to do. We must buy those letters from her.’
‘This woman … she has a husband?’ The King could not get the thought of Lord Grosvenor out of his mind.
‘Yes … a low fellow … a clerk of some sort.’
‘Shocking! Disgusting! You realize that, eh, what?’
‘I realize it fully but I know something has to be done.’
‘What sort of letters, eh? Love letters? That sort?’
‘That sort,’ admitted the Prince; ‘and I fear that I was a little indiscreet about … family matters.’
‘Family matters! You mean you discussed your family … the royal family … with this … this … woman. Eh! What?’
‘I fear so.’
‘And she wrote you letters?’
‘Yes.’
‘And where are they?’
‘I destroyed them.’
‘So you destroyed hers and she kept yours, eh?’
‘It seems so.’
‘It seems so! How do you know she has these letters?’
‘I have been shown one … and that itself is enough to … er …’
‘I know, I know. Letters!’
‘I gave her a bond.’
‘What?’
‘A bond for twenty thousand pounds.’
‘You are mad.’
‘I fear I was at the time, sir. But the stipulation was that I could not honour it until I was twenty-one.’
‘I doubt it’s valid. And you’ve another two years to go. I trust you learn a little sense by then.’
‘I trust so, sir.’
‘Letters,’ mused the King. ‘Damning, humiliating letters! What have I done to be cursed with a family like this?’
‘We are not so bad, sir,’ said the Prince soothingly. ‘It is only when compared with Your Majesty’s high code of morals and blameless existence that we appear so.’
The King looked sharply at his son. The young dog was too free with words – always had been. One never could be sure what he was driving at.
‘Go away,’ he said. ‘I’ll think of this.’
‘Sir, we must get those letters.’
‘Do you think I don’t understand the trouble this sort of folly can bring to the family?’
‘I did not think that for one moment, sir, that was why I plucked up my courage to bring the matter to your attention.’
‘You’d do better to consult me more often.’
‘I know that now, sir.’
‘Then go and I will consider this in due course. But I’d have you know that I am preoccupied with weighty matters of State which one day perhaps you will know something about. And you have to disturb me with your follies. I tell you this, sir, I am displeased. I am disgusted and this sort of thing will have to stop. You understand that, eh, what?’
‘I understand it well, sir; I admit my folly. We all have to learn by the mistakes of youth, sir.’
For one moment the King could almost have believed that this son of his, who knew so much, was aware of that period of his father’s life which all this time the King had been striving to forget.
It was on occasions like this that one remembered and the past came up to mock. It had the effect though of making a man more lenient than he might have been.
He said in a milder tone: ‘If it’s taught you a valuable lesson then perhaps it is not such a disaster as it appears. Go now. You will hear more of this from me.’
The Prince knelt and kissed his father’s hand. There were tears of real gratitude in his eyes – but tears came easily to the whole family. Yet, this had changed the young dog. He was worried, and there was no doubt that it had brought him to heel.
Charles James Fox was a constant visitor to Cork Street. Perdita had also received a visit from Lieutenant-Colonel Hotham who had told her that he came on the King’s business.
Perdita was thrown into a state of great anxiety by the visit of this gentleman who pointed out to her that in attempting to blackmail the Prince she was placing herself in a very dangerous position. The Prince had confessed to the King the fact that he had written indiscreet letters to her and the King was most distressed, first that his son should have written the letters and secondly that he should have so far forgotten the dignity due to his position as to become involved with a woman who could offer to treat them as merchandise.
So terrified had Perdita been that she had almost agreed to hand over the letters; but the thought of her debts and her interview with Mr Fox sustained her; and she had told the Lieutenant-Colonel that she could do nothing without consulting her friends.