The Princess of Celle: (Georgian Series) Read Online Free PDF Page A

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    Sophia was greatly attracted by him. She was longing for marriage, to be the mother of children, to attain the rank and dignity which was denied her in her brother’s court. If her bridegroom were not pleased with her, she was with him.
    The marriage contract had been signed. There was one condition. George William had explained to the Elector Palatine that he could not consider marrying immediately because he had affairs to settle, so he wished that his betrothal to Sophia should not be made public just at this time.
    The Elector, afraid that any disagreement might mean he had his sister back on his hands, was amenable, and George William took his leave of his bride-to-be and with Ernest Augustus left Heidelberg.
    Ernest Augustus did not like to see his brother so downcast.
    ‘Oh come, brother,’ he said, ‘it’s not so bad. You’ll soon get her with child and when she has produced your son, you and I will go off on a little jaunt together.’
    ‘I have no great fancy for her,’ admitted George William.
    ‘Well, ‘twill not be necessary to. Cheer up. You must be in good spirits in Venice.’
    ‘Venice!’ cried George William.
    ‘The soon-to-be-married man should have his final bachelor carousal.’
    George William turned to Ernest Augustus and they began to laugh.
    ‘Come on! To Venice then!’ cried George William.
    ‘There to forget the future while we revel in the present.’
    ‘Yes, we’ll revel, for I have a notion, brother, that if I am married to that woman nothing will ever be the same again.’
    It was not even the same in Venice.
    Signora Buccolini surveyed him with suspicion, as he did her. He believed she had been taking lovers during his absence.
    He was changed, she told him. He was remote. His thoughts were elsewhere.
    ‘You are in love with someone,’ she accused him.
    ‘No,’ he cried. ‘I’m not. I wish to God I were.’
    Such a cryptic remark did not ease matters; there was an attempt to recapture the old passion, but it would not come, and the bedchamber of the beautiful Signora seemed to be haunted by the Princess Sophia.
    He could not stop thinking of her. She came between him and his passion. How could I ever make love to her? he asked himself. Other princes did in such marriages. But he was different. He was at heart a romantic; he was a man of taste and elegance.
    Oh, God, he thought, I could never make love to that woman!
    Marriage! The thought of it haunted him.
    ‘I would do anything … anything,’ he told Ernest Augustus, ‘to escape it.’
    Little Lucas, his son, was his only consolation during those days. The boy was growing up – proud and handsome; he asked questions about his father’s – country. George William guessed that his mother had been talking to him too freely – perhaps putting the questions into the child’s mouth.
    All the magic had gone from Venice. The flower-decked gondolas seemed tawdry, and the canals smelt unpleasantly.Even the women had lost their mystery; they were very little different from the German women. And he suspected his mistress was unfaithful to him.
    In any case he was no longer in love with her. He had returned hoping to start again where he had left off. It was a mistake.
    He awoke one early morning to find his mistress missing; he was waiting for her when she crept in before daybreak.
    ‘So,’ he said, ‘what I suspected is true.’
    ‘And why should you think I should remain faithful to you? Have you been faithful to me?’
    He said: ‘I did not ask for fidelity while I was away. But now I am here you prefer another man.’
    ‘Oh, you and your fine stories of your rank and greatness in Germany! Germany! What of Germany? And where is the money you promised me for your son?’
    ‘Our son will be cared for, never fear.’
    ‘So far he has had to rely on his mother rather than his father … albeit she is a woman of no standing and he is a Prince. Who is going to keep him when you go back to your Germany? Tell