‘My headdress is slipping. Let us go into this pavilion that I may adjust it.’
He looked uneasily at the pavilion. It was not exactly the spot lovers would choose, being a little exposed and anyone inside it would be seen from outside.
Clara put her hands to her headdress. At any moment now Platen should be coming up the path with George Lewis – that was if Platen did his part. But she could trust him to do what he was told; the point was had he been able to get George Lewis away from Schulenburg?
Königsmarck was relieved that there did seem to appear to be something wrong with the headdress; at first he had thought she was going to suggest an embrace in the pavilion; she was capable of such a suggestion he well knew.
‘Can I help?’ he asked.
‘I think not. Your duties in a lady’s bedchamber have not usually been concerned with fixing headdresses.’
She could never resist the coarse allusion. How different from Sophia Dorothea. If only it were possible for them to go away together, to marry! He believed he would be happy to change his mode of living. He was certain he would be ready to do anything for Sophia Dorothea.
‘Listen! Footsteps! Someone is coming this way. Look, we’ll go out of that door and we shall not meet them.’
Clara stood in the moonlight, her back to the men who were coming along the path to the pavilion. She was quick enough to see that it was her husband and George Lewis.
They would recognize Königsmarck and the figure in the dress which was exactly like that worn by Sophia Dorothea.
It is working to plan, thought Clara; and her pleasure in the success of her little plot made up for her chagrin at Königsmarck’s indifference.
‘A glove, Your Highness,’ said Platen, stopping and picking up the embroidered glove which Clara had dropped.
‘Clearly it belongs to the woman who left in a hurry just as we came along.’ George Lewis looked at the glove and recognized it as one he had himself brought from Flanders. He remembered being impressed by the excellent workmanship. ‘That is my wife’s glove,’ he said. ‘Who was the man with her?’
‘It was Count Königsmarck, Your Highness.’
‘It was. I saw him clearly.’
George Lewis continued to look at the glove.
The following day he made a rare call at his wife’s apartments.
Sophia Dorothea was surprised and disturbed to see him; but she made a pretence of indifference.
‘I come to look at the embroidered gloves I brought you from Flanders. I was talking of the fine work they do there.’
‘The gloves!’ cried Sophia Dorothea, embarrassed. ‘I … I have lost one of them.’
George Lewis regarded her sullenly. ‘Last night?’ he asked.
‘No, some days ago. I will ask Fraulein von Knesebeck.’
Eléonore came running to her mistress’s summons and Sophia Dorothea asked her when the glove had first been missed.
‘It was several days ago,’ said Eléonore. ‘I remember remarking on it.’
George Lewis regarded them sullenly and at that moment the Count von Platen asked to be admitted. He bowed to the Princess and offered her the embroidered glove.
‘It was found, Your Highness, in the pavilion at the Count Königsmarck’s ball last night.’
‘But … I do not understand… .’
George Lewis took the glove from Platen and threw it on to a table.
‘That is enough,’ he said; and with Platen left the apartment.
Sophia Dorothea and Eléonore von Knesebeck looked at each other in horror. What did this mean?
Each day Sophia Dorothea waited for George Lewis to act but he said nothing; and in fact after a few weeks had passed he appeared to have forgotten the affair of the glove. He was deeply concerned with Ermengarda and they were seen everywhere together. She could put George Lewis into good spirits and he seemed less uncouth consequently.
Königsmarck, who had heard of the affair of the glove from Sophia Dorothea, knew very well what had happened, but he did not wish to tell her that he had been in the pavilion with Clara. He was ashamed of himself for his duplicity and as a result became more reckless than usual, anxious to tell the world how much he loved and respected Sophia Dorothea.
At the card table in the great hall one night, when there was a lull in the game, when he was talking of Saxony, he mentioned how the Elector was dominated by his mistress, how his wife was of no account; he then went on to speak of the court of Dresden – the magnificence of the balls and banquets. They exceeded, he told his listeners, anything they had ever known at Hanover.
George Lewis, who was sitting at the table with Ermengarda, glowered at him, for Königsmarck represented everything that George Lewis disliked – elegance and eloquence, all the characteristics of a legendary romantic hero.
He growled unexpectedly: ‘If you like Saxony so much why did you leave it for Hanover?’
Königsmarck flashed him a look of distaste. ‘Because,’ he said, ‘I did not care to see a beautiful wife distressed by the conduct of a husband who neglected her for the sake of a mistress who was both impudent and worthless.’
There was a gasp. Ermengarda tittered nervously while George Lewis seemed as though he were about to speak but changed his mind.
Silence followed until the cards were dealt.
Clara, who heard of the incident, waited for George Lewis to act. First the glove incident and now Königsmarck’s outburst! The fool, thought Clara. Doesn’t he know George Lewis is the most vindictive man at Hanover? The fact that he allowed the insolence to pass does not mean he has forgotten it. It will be remembered against you, my handsome gallant, for ever and ever!
She discussed the matter with Platen who was of the opinion that George Lewis simply did not care whether his wife was having a love affair with Königsmarck.
But, he agreed with Clara that he would put the matter at the back of his mind, to be remembered later.
The lovers reassured each other that there would be no outcome of the glove incident. Meetings were arranged; they made love; they talked of their dangers and in a weak moment when he felt he wished to have no secrets from Sophia Dorothea, Königsmarck told her how Clara had insisted on walking with him in the gardens and had led him to the pavilion where the glove had been found.
This aroused Sophia Dorothea’s jealousy which had to be appeased; but he knew he was right to have told her because they must both be on their guard as never before against Clara.
‘She is a dangerous woman,’ said Königsmarck. ‘Never let us forget that.’
They thought of the disaster she could set in motion; but the fear and uncertainty made their meetings the more precious.
Feverishly they planned to meet and meet again.
A Pinch of Snuff
WHILE SOPHIA DOROTHEA and Königsmarck were oblivious of everything else but each other, Maximilian was growing more and more restive. He missed the restraining influence of Charles; he could no longer play the gallant with Sophia Dorothea; he was constantly in the company of young men as reckless as himself; and they planned how they could force Ernest Augustus to see their point of view. To Maximilian and his friends this was an amusing game to prevent boredom; but it was dangerous; they were young and high spirited and they tried to outdo each other by their recklessness. Their enemies were Ernest Augustus and George Lewis and they talked boldly in secret.
One of the chief conspirators was Count Mölcke, Ernest Augustus’s Master of the Hunt; and the young Duke of Wolfenbüttel was in communication with them.