"I can't wait," declared Frederick.
The King was delighted with his second son. He talked to the Queen about him. "He's not like his elder brother. Oh, no. There's a difference. You've seen it, eh, what?"
"No one could be quite like George," said the Queen half admiringly, half resentfully. And she added: "I should hope."
"Frederick is a good boy at heart. He'll be able to give us some tales of battle, eh? I'm glad I sent him to Germany."
The Queen looked dubious. The people hadn't liked it; and she believed that the Prince of Wales might have behaved a little better to them if they had not robbed him of the brother he had loved. And wouldn't the Duke of York have been able to learn how to be a soldier as well in England as in Germany? Now he was returned to them—and although he was their son, they hadn't seen him for seven years and that did, in a way, make him seem like a stranger.
"Frederick," mused the King, "he's the Hope of the House. That's how I think of him. You understand ... eh, what? Now that George seems bent on giving us trouble ..."
"George seems to have reformed a little under the influence of that ... of that..."
"He'd never reform. He's putting on a show. He knows how to act a part... the rip! No, Frederick is a good boy. He's done well in Germany; he'll do well at home. Come. We'll go to your drawing room. He'll be there now."
It was not often that so many of the family were assembled. There were the six princesses, even baby Amelia, all standing solemnly about the Queen's chair awaiting the arrival of their parents; the equerries and some members of the household were there, and George and Frederick were together, deep in conversation, heads close, laughing as though no one else in the drawing room existed for them.
They all stood to attention at the arrival of the King and Queen; the Princesses curtsied prettily, including baby Amelia, who for once was too impressed by the glittering personalities of her two big brothers to assert her right to be the centre of attention.
The King and Queen took their places. Frederick stood by his father's chair, George by his mother's. The conversation was stilted. Why was it they never knew what to say to each other?
The Queen saw the glances which passed between her two sons—eyes raised to the ceiling, affecting to suppress yawns.
George was bored with his family. Could it be that Frederick —the King's Hope of the House—was going to be his brother's ally?
Oh why, why, thought the Queen, in this family is there always a state of war!
"We'll have some music," said the King. "Til swear you've heard some good music in Germany, eh, what?"
The Duke of York said that he had heard excellent music in Germany.
"Well we will try to give you some here." He raised a hand and his equerry was at his side. He asked that the musicians be sent for.
"I doubt you've heard a better pianist than Cramer," said the King. "And Fischer is a genius with the hautbois."
"I look forward with immense pleasure to hearing these gentlemen, sir."
"And the rest of the band," said the King with a smile.
The concert started.
Oh, God," whispered the Prince of Wales to the Duke of York, "did you think it would be so deadly!-"
"The music's good. It's the company."
"You should come to Brighton."
"So I've heard."
"You shall come to Brighton."
"When?"
"As soon as we escape from this funereal gathering. Tonight .. . I'll drive you there in my phaeton. I'll take a bet with you. A thousand guineas. When you get to Brighton you'll find excuses why you must stay there."
The King was frowning in their direction. Concert time was not the occasion for conversation.
But that evening the Prince of Wales drove the Duke of York down to Brighton.
"Frederick, this is the lady I want you to meet and love as a sister. Maria, my brother Frederick Duke of York and Bishop of Osnaburgh ... Now Bishop!"
The two brothers were laughing. "You remember those cartoons of you, Fred. Maria, he was made a Bishop before he took his first tottering steps and the cartoonists always drew him balancing a mitre that was as big as himself."
"It is a great pleasure to meet you, Madam," said the Duke of York, bowing.
Maria replied with the regality of a Queen receiving visiting royalty that it gave her the utmost pleasure to see him and she trusted that he intended a long stay in Brighton.
"We have a bet on it," said the Prince. "He's going to be as reluctant to leave Brighton as I always am."
"My God, George." said the Duke of York, "you have made yourself a pleasant place here."
"Nothing to what I intend to make it. I'm going to show you round. Come on ... now. You shall inspect Marine Pavilion and I'll tell you of the schemes I have for the place."
He slipped one arm through Frederick's and another through Maria's; but as they went from room to room and the brothers shouted and laughed together and recalled to each other the ridiculous and tragic scenes from their youth Maria began to feel that she was a little less close to the Prince than she had been.
Frederick's coming did put an end to the halcyon days. Maria was still the Prince's "dear love'; he must know that she was there to return to; but that did not mean that he wished to be in her company all the time.
Frederick was full of high spirits in which George joined; and this meant driving madly about the country, drinking, gambling, playing practical jokes on each other. Maria's dignity did not fit into this; and while the Prince wanted the home atmosphere he also wanted the sort of horseplay so beloved by his brother.
Maria was realizing the difference in their ages; never before had those six years seemed to represent such a gap. He seemed to her very childish, such a boy, and she thought regretfully of the days immediately following their reconciliation when he had seemed more sober and as though he had really grown up. But he was after all a lighthearted boy; and he must, she supposed, have his fun.
They seemed to be surrounded by two different kinds of friends. There were some who shared the friendship of both of them, people like the Duchess of Devonshire, the Sheridans, the Dukes of Grafton and Bedford. But the Prince had his own set which consisted of people like Major Hanger, that eccentric fellow who was so fond of practical joking—a habit Maria deplored. She was never amused to be the subject of such jokes, although to please the Prince she accepted the role she was sometimes called upon to play.
Two people of whom Maria could never approve were Sir John and Leticia Lade. Sir John was celebrated for the manner in which he could handle horses, and was soon taking charge of the Prince's stables. His wife was an amazing woman who swore more colourfully than any soldier, a fact which was perhaps not surprising because before she had married Sir John she had lived in St. Giles's and had been the mistress of a highwayman known as Sixteen String Jack. When he was caught and hanged Letty married Sir John. She was an amazon of a woman and could handle a horse even better than her husband and had immediately called attention to herself by riding astride and by her management of a curricle and four.
They had a house near Brighton and at the races had made the acquaintance of the Prince of Wales, who was amused and intrigued by the free talk of Letty and the skill she shared with her husband in the management of horses. The Prince's love of horses drew him to the pair and they were often seen together.
Then there was the wild Barry family. Hellgate, Cripple-gate, Newgate and Lady Billingsgate. Hellgate was Richard, Earl of Barrymore, who had such a quick temper that he was constantly Hying into violent rages; hence his name. His brother Henry was club-footed and so was Cripplegate. A young brother, Augustus, had been so often imprisoned for debt that he was called Newgate, this being the only prison he had not stayed in; and their sister Caroline swore in such a manner that she was Lady Billingsgate. Hellgate explained to the Prince that their wildness was due to their having been left orphans at an early age and put into the care of a tutor which had taught them all a virtuous society would say they should not know.