"The boy will go to Ansbach, I daresay. He's the heir presumptive."
"And Caroline?"
"Doubtless she will make her home there too."
"And if the boy does not become Margrave? Oh, it is an uneasy future. In a way we are responsible. My conscience would never let me rest unless..."
He was smiling at her indulgently understanding what she was about to say. She knew this and smiled at him ruefully. It was one of those occasions when she wished she could have given him a deeper affection.
"Go on, my dear."
"Something would have to be done for Caroline."
"I know what is in your mind."
"And you would raise no objection?"
"If it were your wish I daresay it would be mine."
"You are so good to me." There were tears of emotion in her eyes. He took her hand and kissed it. "Thank you," she added.
She was warm in her gratitude and he in his turn was grateful to have kindled that warmth.
To no one else had Caroline ever talked as she did to Sophia Charlotte. They would walk in the gardens of Pretsch and while they talked look down on the valley of the Elbe and beyond to the towers of Wittenburg, once the home of Martin Luther.
Sophia Charlotte talked to Caroline of that great man; she spoke animatedly of how he had defied the Pope and publicly burned the Papal Bull. At the same time she talked judicially for as she pointed out to Caroline one must never be fanatical because as soon as one did the vision became blurred and the judgement impaired. At the same time one could applaud bold men who struck blows at tyranny. She talked earnestly of tolerance, for she thought it necessary to men's dignity that they should have freedom to form their own opinions.
It was fascinating talk and Caroline was glad she had disciplined herself to study because in doing so she had prepared herself for such conversation; and her reward was the approval of Sophia Charlotte.
Everyday the Electress would look for her.
"I shall sadly miss our talks when I leave Pretsch," she said.
And Caroline was torn between the sorrow parting must bring and the joy that the great Electress Sophia Charlotte— beautiful, brilliant and courted—should really want to share the company of an eleven-year-old girl.
Everyone at Pretsch was talking about the scandal of Hanover. Caroline listened and even asked questions of the servants.
She discovered that it concerned the Electoral Prince George Lewis, his wife Sophia Dorothea and a dashing adventurer named Count Konigsmarck. Caroline had seen the Count for when he had visited Dresden she had been there. Very handsome, popular, gay, reckless, everyone at the Dresden Court had been aware of him—even the young girl who had had to keep out of sight.
Konigsmarck had at one time been a favourite of John George; but when he had left Dresden he had talked very indiscreetly about the shocking way in which John George treated his wife. After that Konigsmarck had not been welcome at Dresden; but when John George had died so suddenly the Count had returned to Dresden to stay awhile with his old friend Augustus the new Elector and there once more he had talked indiscreetly—this time of the notorious Countess von Platen who was the mistress of the Elector of Hanover; he had joked about her and her lover as well as George Lewis, the Electoral Prince, and his mistress. He had boasted rather sentimentally too about his own success with George Lewis's neglected wife, the beautiful Sophia Dorothea.
Now the Count was dead. No one knew how he had died or what had become of his body; but everyone seemed certain that he was dead. It had been discovered that he was the lover of Sophia Dorothea. As for this sad Princess, George Lewis was going to divorce her and make her his prisoner, and declared he would never see her again.
Caroline thought a good deal about Sophia Dorothea and compared her with her own mother, for they had both found great tragedy in marriage. It was alarming to consider that one day—not far distant—she would be grown up and marriageable. Then she would doubtless be obliged to embark on this perilous adventure.
Because she was so curious she ventured to speak of the matter to Sophia Charlotte when they walked together one day in the gardens. She was puzzled; she would like to understand more.
"Who is wrong," she asked. "George Lewis or Sophia Dorothea?"
"So you have heard of this scandal?"
"They talk of it all the time. Not to me, of course. They whisper when they see me near. And that, of course, makes me all the more curious to know."
"Naturally, it would. Tell me what you know."
She told and Sophia Charlotte smiled.
"I see," she said, "that you are by no means ignorant of the ways of the world. From what I have heard George Lewis is a brutal young man, Sophia Dorothea a frivolous and foolish woman. Who then would you say was to blame if disaster overtakes them."
"Both of them?"
"You are wise, Caroline. I am sure both of them is the answer. Although we must remember that even though the blame is shared, the punishment is not."
"She will suffer more than he will."
"She is less powerful, poor creature."
"Could she have avoided this ... trouble?"
"We could by certain actions avoid all our troubles."
Caroline considered this. Yes, even her mother. She need not have married the Elector of Saxony. Perhaps if she had wept less and fought more for her rights ... In any case Sophia Charlotte thought so, and she must be right.
"I daresay you have heard a garbled story," said Sophia Charlotte. "It would be better for you to know the truth. After all, though you are only eleven years old you are much older in wisdom, I know."
Caroline glowed with happiness and taking Sophia Charlotte's hand kissed it.
"My dearest child," murmured Sophia Charlotte deeply moved. "Well," she continued briskly. "George Lewis is a man ... not unlike your late stepfather. There are many like him. It is a pattern of our times. He turned from his wife to other women. She found that intolerable and took a lover. The result—the mysterious disappearance of the lover and punishment for the poor Princess."
"It seems so unfair when he began it and she only did what he did."
"Life is unfair, my dear. More so for women than for men. He took his mistresses as a natural right. Such is the custom. But when she took a lover she dangered the succession. You see what I mean. But of course you do. That is the answer."
"So she was more to blame."
"It is not for us to blame. She was foolish, poor soul; and folly often pays a higher price than greater sins."
"What should she have done when he took his mistresses? Should she have accepted them. My mother ..."
"Your mother was not a proud woman like this Princess. Your mother accepted the position . . . and you see here she is alive and living in peace while her husband and his mistress are dead."
"But that was by accident."
"Life is made up of accidents, luck if you like—good and bad—but often our own actions can decide the course our lives will take. If Sophia Dorothea had accepted her husband's mistresses, if she had not quarrelled with him ..." Sophia Charlotte shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows what would have happened."
"So one should accept?"
"One should try to discover what is the wisest way for one's own advantage."
"I see," said Caroline.
Sophia Charlotte covered the girl's hand with her own.
"I believe you do," she said.
Even while the Brandenburgs were visiting her Eleanor had to take to her bed. The Dresden interlude had undermined her health and it could not be expected that even though the threat to her life was removed she would easily recover.
Sophia Charlotte visited her in her bedchamber and sent away her servants.
"I have become deeply attached to Caroline," she said.