"They say, *Oh she's only his mistress.' And they pay Court to Madam Electress."
"Oh no, Mother..."
"Listen to me. You could become Electress."
"How?"
"By insisting that he marry you, of course."
"He's married already."
"You are determined to see the obstacles."
Magdalen looked puzzled. "Well, she is his wife, isn't she? They were married in Leipzig."
"Oh yes, their dear friends the Brandenburgs saw to that."
"Because you had been too busy with your dear friends the Austrians."
"Because you, my dear, were not subtle enough. I had to find money from somewhere and you betrayed the fact that we had friends in Austria who had been kind to us. But never mind. That's all behind us. Let's think of the future. How would you like to be the Electress of Saxony?"
"I shouldn't mind it. I shouldn't mind it at all."
Madam von Roohlitz gave her daughter a playful slap.
"Well, listen to me. I have an idea. Pay close attention."
"Yes, Mother."
Caroline was in her mother's bedchamber reading aloud to Eleanor who lay on her bed, her nervous fingers pulling at the coverlet; Caroline knew that she was not listening. Yet if she stopped she would realize it and ask her gently to go on.
It seemed useless and ineffectual; for Caroline was not really paying attention either.
Caroline stopped reading and said: "We were happier than this in Ansbach."
"What did you say?" asked Eleanor.
Caroline said: "Mamma, couldn't we go away somewhere for a little change?"
Eleanor looked startled. Then she said: "Where could we go?"
"To Ansbach perhaps."
"We should not be welcome there."
"We are not welcome here."
"Caroline, what do you mean? This is our home?"
Home! thought Caroline. Where you were unhappy! Where no one wanted you! Where people whispered about you in corners.
"Perhaps," she said, "we could go to Berlin."
"To Berlin. I doubt whether they would want us there either."
"Mamma, how can you know? The Electress Sophia Charlotte was so kind. She talked to me about lessons and things like that."
"I hope you are getting on well with your studies, Caroline." That worried look was in her eyes. She was thinking: I neglect my daughter. She is allowed to run wild. Oli what will become of us?
"I try to work at them," answered Caroline gravely. "The Electress Sophia Charlotte said I should. Do you think she will ever come here to see us?"
"Nobody ever comes here to see us."
There was no bitterness in the tone, only a sad resignation.
Nothing will ever change, thought Caroline.
But even as the thought entered her mind one of her mother's attendants came into the room. She was agitated and showed clearly that something had happened to upset her.
She did not seem to see Caroline sitting in her chair, but went straight to the bed, and handed a paper to Eleanor. "I couldn't believe this when I read it, Your Highness. It is ... terrible."
Eleanor took up the paper in trembling hands.
"What ... Oh, I had heard ... Oh, no."
"They are saying that it could not have been circulated without the Elector's consent. Your Highness."
"I am sure that is so."
Caroline shrank back into her chair and watched her mother intently.
She threw the paper on to the bed. "This is the end," she said wearily. "He is determined to be rid of me."
"They will never allow such a law. Your Highness."
"If he insists ..."
"No. It can't be. It's another plot of that von Roohlitz woman. Nothing can come of it."
"A great deal has come of her plans. I feel very faint."
"It's the shock. Lie still. Your Highness."
"Lie still," murmured Eleanor. "Yes, for what else can I do. Just be still and wait ... for whatever they plan against me."
Caroline sitting in her chair wanted to run to her mother, shake her and cry out: It's not the way. You shouldn't allow them to hurt you. You should fight them as they fight you.
But she sat still while the woman brought an unguent from a cupboard and rubbed into her mother's forehead.
"That's comforting," said Eleanor.
The pamphlet fluttered to the floor not far from Caroline's feet. She picked it up and read it. It was obscurely phrased but the gist was that it might be advantageous for men who could afford to support more than one wife to have another.
So the Elector thought this a good idea! The reason was plain. He was able to support another wife, he was not satisfied with the one he had, and there was someone he would like to set up in her place.
Yes, she could understand why her mother was disturbed.
Eleanor was saying in a sad tired voice: "I feel so ... alone, and I know they are determined to be rid of me by one means or another."
"Your Highness should not distress yourself."
"How can I help it? They are getting restive. They have endured me long enough."
"Your Highness, this could never be. There would be an outcry. It is against religion as well as the laws of the state."
"They're desperate," said Eleanor. "This could be a safer way ... than some."
She was aware of Caroline standing there with the pamphlet in her hand.
"Oh ... Caroline. Put that paper down. I want to rest. Go now."
Caroline laid the pamphlet on the table and went out.
They thought she understood nothing; they thought she was a child still.
Magdalen told all her friends that very soon she would be the Electress. The Elector was going to marry her. He had a wife already? Oh, but the Elector believed that in certain circumstances a man should have two wives.
Madam von Roohlitz had discreetly let it be known that anyone seeking honours should come to her. Magdalen would be able to arrange anything with the Elector she considered desirable, but as she would be very busily occupied her mother would shoulder some of her daughter's responsibilities.
Madam von Roohlitz was almost delirious with the new sense of power.
Her suggestion of another marriage had worked very well. Magdalen had learned her part adequately; she had told her lover how much she desired to be his wife and he yearned to grant her wish.
She assured herself that the plot was succeeding far better than at first she had thought possible. The fact was that the Electress was such a spineless creature that no one cared to defend her. Her only friends, the Brandenburgs, were far away; but she must impress on Magdalen the need to get this matter settled as quickly as possible.
However she was soon disappointed for although the Elector would willingly have married Magdalen, his ministers had refused to consider the question.
"It strikes at the very tenets of our Faith," they declared. "It is quite impossible."
"Nothing is impossible if I decide it shall be done," shouted John George.
"Your Highness," he was told, "a man who has one wife in the eyes of God cannot have another until her death. That is the law of the Church and the State."
"I will be my own law! " he cried.
But he knew they would not allow Magdalen to be his wife and he would remain married to that woman whom he had come to loathe ... until death parted them.
He was angry but not so deeply as Madam von Roohlitz. He still had his mistress even though he could not make her his wife. As for Madam von Roohlitz, what had become of the lucrative business she was going to build up by selling honours to those who could pay well enough for them?
She shut herself in her apartments and would see no one ... not even Magdalen.
Till death parts them! she murmured and seemed to derive a little comfort from the thought.
Someone was standing by Caroline's bed.
"Wake up your mother has sent for you."
Caroline scrambled up. It was dark and the candle threw the long shadow of her nurse on the wall.