But George Lewis’s feeling for Ermengarda was different from that which he had felt for any other woman – even Marie von dem Bussche. Ermengarda to him was the perfect woman; since he had first met her he had scarcely been aware of any others. Although she was so beautiful she was so humble – what a perfect combination! She made no attempt to hide her pleasure in the attentions of the Crown Prince; she made no demands; she was taller than he was but as a man of slightly less than medium size he liked big women. In her company he became less clumsy, even tender.
Clara was as delighted with her as George Lewis was; and Ermengarda remained as humble towards the Baroness as she had been in the days when she first came to Monplaisir. It could not have been better if Marie had stepped into her old place.
Now George Lewis was provided with a mistress who had come to stay and this must necessarily mean the diminution of Sophia Dorothea’s power. But Clara wanted more than this; she wanted to humiliate Sophia Dorothea publicly – she wanted to force her to accept Ermengarda; and she set about planning to do this.
First she must keep her promise to Marie who must have a husband found for her without delay. It was, in a way, an insult to the family to have Marie the neglected mistress even though she had been supplanted by the woman Clara had chosen.
General Weyhe was a man of great wealth and great ambition, with a large estate a few miles from Hanover. He would know that marriage into the Meisenburg family could bring him all sorts of opportunities and as soon as Clara suggested this would be the case, he was ready to discuss terms with her. It was simple: marriage with Marie. She was a beautiful woman and sister to the Baroness Platen; all wise men knew that Clara was at the right hand of Ernest Augustus when honours were handed out at Hanover.
General Weyhe did not take long to consider. He was present at several entertainments at Monplaisir and at court; and he was seen to be constantly in the company of the widowed Marie von dem Bussche.
No one was surprised when it was announced that they should marry.
It was Clara who helped Marie plan for the wedding. It should be one of the grandest weddings of the year, she decided.
‘You do not wish people to think that you are mourning because George Lewis prefers Fraulein von Schulenburg.’
‘They won’t think that. Marriage with a rich general is more rewarding than being mistress even to a Prince.’
Clara smiled complacently. She had marriage to a rich man and was the mistress of a Prince; moreover she had the satisfaction of knowing that she had made her husband rich.
‘That is a sensible way to look at things,’ she said. ‘The wedding should be celebrated at the General’s house which is so suitable for a grand occasion. The whole court shall attend and the guests of honour shall be the Crown Prince and Ermengarda von Schulenburg.’
Marie looked in astonishment at her sister. ‘And … the Crown Princess?’
Clara laughed with satisfaction. ‘Oh, I had thought of her. She must be there. But if Ermengarda is the guest of honour how can she be?’
‘But George Lewis will have to come with Sophia Dorothea.’
‘Why?’
‘Because it will be what is expected … etiquette and …’
Clara’s laugh brayed out again. ‘It is not what I expect,’ she said. ‘George Lewis is so enamoured that naturally he will be with his Ermengarda all the evening. They’ll be seated together at table; they will lead the dancing… . After all it is what George Lewis would wish.’
‘But the Princess … Why Clara, you have planned this!’
‘Of course I have planned it. On your wedding day our pretty little Sophia Dorothea who is always implying how much better they arrange everything in France will see this little French custom in Hanover. The maîtresse en titre is more important than the wife in France. At your wedding, my dear, this will be the case in Hanover. And the whole court shall know it.’
Clara’s eyes blazed with vindictive delight. Here was the opportunity at last. Revenge on the woman whose fresh young charms had called attention to her own waning ones. Sophia Dorothea would begin to learn what it meant at Hanover to humiliate the Baroness von Platen.
Sophia Dorothea was aware of George Lewis’s infatuation for Ermengarda. It was the talk of the court, and Eléonore von Knesebeck was always the first to pick up such gossip.
‘Well, he has had mistresses ever since I married him,’ said Sophia Dorothea.
‘This one is different,’ pointed out Eléonore. ‘He is different. He’s devoted to her. They go everywhere together. Everyone is talking about it.’
Sophia Dorothea shrugged her shoulders. ‘As if I cared what he does. As long as he keeps away from me that’s all I ask.’
But it was a different matter when the invitations to the wedding of Marie von dem Bussche and General Weyhe were issued. Sophia Dorothea received hers and pondered on it. Should she attend the wedding of a woman who had been her husband’s mistress – although it was before her marriage? She remembered the day when she arrived at Hanover – the frightened bride – and how she had looked up at the window and seen Marie von dem Bussche watching her with such a malevolent expression that she had felt a shiver of fear. Marie had been ordered to leave at once but obviously she had been furious that she should have to do so – as was her powerful sister, the Baroness von Platen.
‘They don’t want me at the wedding,’ she said, ‘any more than I want to go.’
‘But I suppose you will go, as all the court will be there.’
‘I suppose so,’ answered Sophia Dorothea. But she changed her mind when Eléonore von Knesebeck discovered that the guests of honour were to be George Lewis and Ermengarda von Schulenburg.
‘How dare she do this!’ cried Sophia Dorothea. ‘There has never been anything like it!’
Eléonore pointed out that in France a century ago Diane de Poitiers, the King’s mistress, had been given the place of honour frequently over Queen Catherine de’ Medici.
Sophia Dorothea was white with anger. ‘That girl is not Diane de Poitiers.’
‘But George Lewis dotes on her and everybody wants to please him particularly now he is taking over more and more from his father.’
‘I think I see what is intended here,’ said Sophia Dorothea. ‘Clara von Platen wants to insult me, and she wants to do it publicly. I am to be invited with George Lewis and his mistress and they are to be given the honours while I am treated as a guest of minor importance.’
‘What are you going to do?’
Sophia Dorothea was silent for a while and then she said: ‘Of course I cannot go to this wedding. I shall decline the invitation.’ She frowned. ‘But I cannot believe that they will dare to treat this Schulenburg girl as though she is more important than George Lewis’s wife.’
Eléonore lifted her shoulders. ‘It is what is intended. Platen has always hated you.’
Sophia Dorothea turned to her friend. ‘Eléonore, you must go. You must tell me all that happens.’
Sophia Dorothea was alone in her apartments. How desolate the palace seemed. It was because there were so few people in it, most of them being at General Weyhe’s mansion for the wedding celebrations.
She sat at the window looking out into the darkness. She could picture the scene – the splendour of a rich man’s mansion, in which he was entertaining the court. Ernest Augustus would be there. The Duchess Sophia had declined the invitation and was at Herrenhausen. Clara would have arranged everything. She could picture the elegant gowns, the glitter of jewellery; the feasting, the toasting and dancing. George Lewis, flushed, his lust written on his face for all to see and that girl whom one could not hate because she was so amiable and foolish, just smiling at him as though he were Sigmund or Sigurd or one of the great heroes of legend.