Oh yes, there was something to make life agreeable even during this time of depression. Her meetings with Lord M.
The Baroness came into the Queen’s bedroom through the communicating door. Her face was flushed and she looked as though she were rather excited about something.
‘I must tell you at once. Flora Hastings is back.’
‘Well, Daisy darling, that is not very good news.’
‘She came back from Scotland, you know.’
‘Yes, I heard she had gone to her mother’s house for Christmas.’
‘She came back in a post chaise which she shared with … guess whom?’
‘Daisy, what has come over you? Tell me what it is at once.’
‘She came back alone with Sir John Conroy.’
‘Well, of course there have been lots of rumours about them. They are often together and I am ashamed to say this – and wouldn’t to anyone but you, Daisy – but people say that my mother is jealous of Lady Flora because Sir John pays too much attention to her.’
‘It may well be that he has been paying very special attention to her.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘She is feeling most unwell. She has mysterious pains in her side. And there is no doubt that her figure has undergone a change recently. She had grown noticeably larger.’
‘Oh no, Daisy, it cannot be!’
‘I am certain it is. I hear that she is going to consult Sir James Clark.’
‘Oh, how very shocking!’
‘Well, what do you expect?’
‘That man is capable of anything.’
‘Now,’ said Lehzen, not without glee, ‘we shall await developments.’
The fact that Flora Hastings had travelled in a post chaise alone with Sir John gave rise to a great deal of gossip in both camps, and as she was visiting the doctor and her figure was somewhat enlarged, conclusions were being drawn in every quarter.
Lady Flora, too, seemed preoccupied and very pale; she was clearly worried.
Even her friends were asking themselves what the outcome would be. Lady Flora, the daughter of a very important family; Sir John married; and the Duchess either very jealous now or soon would be. What an exciting situation!
As for the Queen, who had begun to feel a little deflated, she was finding a new interest in life through the Lady Flora situation.
‘If,’ she said to Lehzen, ‘it is proved that he is responsible for her condition, he will have no alternative but to leave the Palace and that is what we want more than anything.’
Lady Tavistock, Lady of the Bedchamber, who was in charge of the Queen’s ladies-in-waiting, returned from visiting her family to find the scandal in full spate.
‘It is disgraceful,’ she was told by Lady Portman, second-in-command in the bedchamber, ‘that the woman is allowed to go about in this state. Something ought to be done about it.’
‘The Queen is aware of this, of course.’
‘You should know what sharp eyes she has. She misses little. And it really is becoming quite obvious.’
‘What a scandal! I’m glad it is one of the Duchess’s ladies and not one of ours.’
‘If it were one of ours we should have hushed it up by now and got her sent away … quickly.’
‘I wonder why Lady Flora didn’t stay in Scotland?’
‘Because she can’t tear herself away from Sir John, I daresay.’
‘I’ll have to think what can be done,’ said Lady Tavistock.
She could go to the Queen, but perhaps that was not advisable. The Queen could be very imperious. Lady Tavistock had been made uncomfortably aware of that when they had been out driving recently, and the Queen had suddenly declared that she must walk more because she was putting on weight and had been advised to take exercise. When the Queen walked etiquette demanded that her ladies walk also. The ground had been damp, and Lady Tavistock had returned to the Palace with wet feet and as her maid had the key to her wardrobe she had been unable to change. It had been most uncomfortable and a cold had resulted. She had complained to Thomas Creevey, that ubiquitous gossip, who had said with a chuckle, ‘I daresay you thought her a resolute little chit.’ And Lady Tavistock had agreed that she had. And Thomas Creevey had lost no time not only in noting the incident in his diaries, but discussing it with his friends.
Now there was the difficulty of taking what would seem the right action in the eyes of that ‘resolute little chit’ with regard to the Flora Hastings affair.
Meanwhile Lehzen and the Queen discussed Lady Flora continuously.
‘Of course,’ said Victoria, ‘if I were on speaking terms with Mamma I could tell her about it because after all Lady Flora is in her household.’
‘It would certainly be her place to deal with the matter,’ agreed Lehzen. ‘When I think of all the unkind remarks that woman has made about me …’
‘It’s her just reward, Daisy. I am sure very soon everyone will know.’
‘We can only wait and see,’ was the reply.
Thus when Lady Tavistock approached the Baroness to ask what action should be taken, for she believed some action was necessary, Lehzen could only reply that it was impossible for any of them to approach the Duchess since the Queen was not on speaking terms with her mother.
‘But something will have to be done,’ cried Lady Tavistock. ‘We can’t have a woman in the Palace flaunting such a condition.’
‘Someone will have to be spoken to,’ Lehzen agreed. ‘And if it is not the Duchess, then who can it be? I can only suggest Lord Melbourne.’
‘The Prime Minister! On such an affair!’
‘Lord Melbourne is more than the Queen’s first minister. He is on friendly terms with the Palace.’
‘Then I will ask him to see me when he next calls,’ said Lady Tavistock.
Melbourne looked at her with some distaste. Though she was connected with Lord John Russell and would be the Duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria, Marchioness Tavistock, did not attract him in the least. She was something of a mischief-maker, he believed, and he had heard the story of the wet feet. It was her own fault, Melbourne had thought, if she wasn’t in better control of her maids; and a walk in the rain hurt nobody. Moreover it was disloyal of her to have discussed her mistress with someone like Creevey.
‘I have to speak to you, Lord Melbourne,’ she began, ‘on a very delicate matter.’
He waited.
‘It concerns Lady Flora Hastings.’
‘Yes?’
‘I have reason to believe that she is in a certain condition.’
‘What reason is this, Lady Tavistock?’
‘Well, it is becoming rather obvious and she has visited Sir James Clark.’
‘You have spoken to Sir James Clark?’
‘Yes, and he tells me that she would seem to be pregnant.’
‘He is not sure?’
‘He has not examined her fully.’
‘And she has made no suggestion that she should leave Court?’
‘She is one of the Duchess’s ladies, but I am sure that had she intended to leave someone would have made me aware of it by now. If she is indeed in this condition I cannot have her here contaminating the young ladies of the Palace.’
‘Quite so,’ said Lord Melbourne gravely.
‘I would like your advice as to what action should be taken.’
‘Well, as you are not entirely sure that the lady is pregnant I cannot see that you can take any action. On the other hand if it is indeed so, time will soon make this plain. So all I can suggest is that you wait and see.’