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

me that. Oh, I’ve heard rumours. There’s going to be a marriage. I know. And then we shall not see our precious Duke again in Venice. He will be living cosily with his lawful wife in his German castle and I shall be forgotten, and Lucas with me.’
    ‘It is true that I have to go back home, but I’ll leave a settlement for you.’
    ‘And the boy?’
    ‘I’ll take him back with me.’
    He had spoken without thought. How could he take the boy back to his new wife and say: ‘This is my son!’ He was becoming impetuous. He spoke without thought. This was what came of being forced into marriage.
    ‘Go as soon as you like,’ she snapped. ‘Or as soon as you’ve made your settlement. And take the boy with you. You owe it to him.’
    He was astonished. He had expected a passionate quarrel and the even more passionate reconciliation; but there was no doubtof it: she had her new lover and she wanted to be rid of the child. It was a sign that their relationship was at an end.
    I am betrothed to a woman who does not attract me, thought George William, and I must go back to Celle with my little Venetian bastard.
    Rarely had he felt so depressed.
    He returned to bed and lay thinking. There was a way out of his predicament.
    When he rose from his bed that morning he knew himself for a desperate man, and he was going to take desperate action.
    He dressed carefully, and went out into the sunshine. He stepped across the terrace and down to the water’s edge, signing to his boatman.
    Along the odorous waters of the canal, through the disenchanted city to the establishment of his brother, Ernest Augustus.
    Sleepily satisfied. Ernest Augustus lay in the sun on the terrace of his palazzo but he started up when he saw his brother, realizing from his expression the seriousness of his mood.
    ‘Where can I talk to you in private?’ demanded George William.
    ‘Here. Why, brother, what has happened?’
    ‘We might be disturbed here. We might be overheard. This is of the utmost secrecy.’
    Ernest Augustus led the way into a room; after locking the door, he drew the blinds, shutting out the bright sunlight.
    ‘I cannot go on with the marriage,’ declared George William.
    Ernest Augustus shook his head sadly.
    ‘I know you think you have heard this before. But you have not. I have made up my mind. I will not marry Sophia. In fact I won’t marry at all.’
    ‘You must. There’s no way out of it.’
    ‘There is. That’s what I want to talk to you about. You shall marry Sophia in my place.’
    ‘I!’
    ‘Pray don’t stand there looking stupid. I said you shall marry her – if you will. And why should you not? As long as one of usmarries, as long as one of us produces the heir … what does it matter?’
    ‘But you are betrothed to Sophia.’
    ‘I think I must have had this in mind even then, because I insisted the betrothal should not be made public knowledge just yet. Listen to me, brother. You shall take my place at the wedding.’
    ‘I could not afford to marry.’
    ‘You could if I made over certain estates and money to you.’
    ‘And you would do this?’
    ‘Ernest Augustus, if you would but take this woman off my hands I will do much for you. Brother, for my sake … do this.’
    Ernest Augustus was thoughtful. Take his brother’s place. Step up from the youngest brother to the head of his house – for that was what he would be if he produced the son who would inherit the family estates. Christian Lewis had a sterile wife; George William would not marry; John Frederick would not be allowed to, either … and he, Ernest Augustus would have the honour of fathering the heir of Brunswick-Lüneberg.
    But suppose at some time George William did marry?
    He shook his head, but George William had seized him and was shaking him gently to and fro.
    ‘You must save me from this woman.’
    ‘There are too many complications.’
    ‘Nonsense! What complications?’
    ‘I’m the youngest.’
    ‘Our father was the sixth of