Königsmarck was writing notes to her which she ignored. Did he think she was a complete fool? she demanded of Eléonore von Knesebeck. Did he think that he could openly deceive her and that she was so infatuated with him that she would accept such conduct?
‘I never want to see him again!’ she declared.
Fraulein von Knesebeck was like a flustered hen. It had been such fun. So exciting. So dangerous! And now it was all over. She understood Königsmarck was a man after all, and he could not be expected to be satisfied with romantic dreaming of what might be and never was. She tried to explain this to Sophia Dorothea.
‘Don’t make excuses for him!’ stormed Sophia Dorothea. ‘And of all people it had to be that woman … that vile, vulgar creature.’
Eléonore muttered that men were men and it was no use trying to change that.
She would come sighing into her mistress’s apartments. ‘I saw Königsmarck today. He looks so wretched.’
‘Doubtless jealous of his mistress. Perhaps he has discovered by now that he is not the only favoured one.’
‘He gave me a note for you.’
‘Then you were a fool to bring it and had better put it into the fire without delay.’
Eléonore von Knesebeck did no such thing. She laid it on the table and retired, knowing that as soon as she had left Sophia Dorothea would seize on it.
And at last she agreed to see him. Recklessly Eléonore von Knesebeck brought him to her apartment and as she looked at him – more appealing in his humiliation and misery than he had ever been in his arrogance and faithfulness – Sophia Dorothea wanted to forgive him everything if he would but promise to give up Clara.
But she was proud and she had been deeply wounded.
‘Why,’ she demanded, ‘do you wish to see me?’
‘To tell you how unhappy I am.’
‘Why? Has your mistress been unfaithful to you?’
‘It has been like an evil dream.’
‘Evil and irresistible!’ she cried. She had to be angry or she would burst into tears; she would be telling him how glad she was to see him, that she wanted to be back on the old terms … that she would accept anything if they might return to those.
So she whipped up her anger. ‘I am quite disgusted,’ she said. ‘So you have joined the grooms and pages who supply that woman’s nightly entertainment! And not only grooms and pages, of course. Noble Counts join her retinue of lovers.’
‘You do well to abuse me. I deserve all you say of me. But now I am with you I understand full well how much I love you. I have been unable to express my feelings. I have been frustrated … quite maddened by frustration that I have not known what I was doing. You must believe me, my Princess. I will never see the Countess von Platen again. I will be faithful to you and to you only as long as I live. In truth, it was because I believed I must be her friend to help you that I went to her in the first place.’
‘You very well showed your friendship to me!’ put in Sophia Dorothea scornfully, but she was in tears.
He embraced her. ‘My dearest … my Princess… .’
‘I believed in you,’ she sobbed. ‘I would have trusted you.’
‘You can trust me. Never again will I see that woman. I swear to you.’
The door opened and Prince Charles came into the apartment.
‘You are mad!’ he said. ‘I could hear your voices in the next apartment. Do you realize that there will be others listening?’
He looked from one to the other. ‘I know your feelings for each other, but you will have to be careful.’
‘As careful as others are … as Clara von Platen for instance?’ demanded Sophia Dorothea.
‘She is not the mother of the heir of Hanover,’ replied Prince Charles. ‘Listen to me, you are behaving foolishly, both of you. You have my sympathy, my understanding, my friendship. That is why I bid you take care. If it came to the ears of Ernest Augustus that you were lovers, you, Königsmarck, would be banished from Hanover. As for you, Sophia Dorothea, your reputation would be smirched. There would be doubts as to whether young George Augustus was your husband’s son. Don’t you understand?’
‘I have always understood that,’ declared Sophia Dorothea, ‘and I have never been unfaithful to my husband.’
Prince Charles sighed. ‘Who would believe you … overhearing what I have just overheard! And,’ he continued, ‘how can we say who has overheard it? Clara von Platen would seize every opportunity to ruin you.’
‘But not the Count,’ said Sophia Dorothea bitterly.
‘That is perhaps something for which we should be grateful. Come with me, Königsmarck. You should not be here alone with my sister-in-law.’
Königsmarck looked at Sophia Dorothea, and she could no longer hide her true feelings. He took her hands and kissed them. Charles turned his back and gazed at the door.
‘I am forgiven?’ whispered Königsmarck. ‘Say that I am and we will find a way to happiness.’
Sophia Dorothea nodded and they were both conscious of a bleak satisfaction as they parted.
Prince Charles said: ‘You are a fool, Königsmarck.’
‘I am in love with the Princess.’
‘So you go to her apartments and behave in such a manner that every little spy at every keyhole can hear what you are saying, while you conduct an affair with the most jealous and vindictive woman at court who happens to be my sister-in-law’s greatest enemy.’
‘I agree with you. I am a fool.’
‘And immediate wisdom is necessary. There is only one thing you can do at the moment, Königsmarck. Leave Hanover. Come with me to Morea.’
‘You are going to Morea!’
‘I have just received orders from my father to prepare myself. I am to lead a company against the Turks. It is part of his agreement with Emperor Leopold.’
‘But to Morea!’
‘I am asking you to leave one dangerous spot for another. You’re a soldier, Königsmarck – but I believe you are in as great danger here as you will be in Morea.
Morea! The adventure of war. It had always appealed to him. But to leave Sophia Dorothea just when he had persuaded her to forgive him!
‘Well?’ asked Charles; and when Königsmarck did not answer, he added: ‘Think about it.’
The Duchess Sophia had sent for Königsmarck.
He thought: So we were overheard. It has come to the ears of the Duchess and I am about to be banished from Hanover. He thought of the Court of France, of that of Saxony. They were far more brilliant than Hanover but he would be far from Sophia Dorothea.
Now that he had seen her again he wondered how he could have been temporarily beguiled by Clara von Platen. She was old – all of forty; she was experienced in a manner which had fiercely attracted him; but after seeing Sophia Dorothea in her fresh youth and beauty, he knew that he loved her and he cursed himself for his lapse.
Never again would he be lured to the bedchamber of that old harridan. He was going to make Sophia Dorothea happy. He did not even despair of becoming her lover in actual fact. She wanted him even as he wanted her; he had sensed that at the last meeting; and one thing the affair with Clara had done was make her aware of that.
It was going to be embarrassing if he stayed away from her much longer. Clara was not the sort to let him go easily. He was uneasy – but the immediate problem was before him. He had to face the Duchess Sophia who would very probably give him orders to leave.
He found the Duchess subdued, which was rare with her; but her greeting was almost warm.
‘My dear Count, pray be seated.’
He obeyed her and she gave him a friendly smile which put him on his guard. With a woman like the Duchess Sophia one could never be absolutely sure of her intentions.