Read Online The Queen's Devotion: The Story of Queen Mary II by Jean Plaidy - Free Book Online Page B

writing to Frances—never an easy task for Anne—and before she had time to finish her letter she was called to have her dancing lesson.
    She did not want to leave the letter unsealed, so she took it with her to the class and, as my lesson had just finished, she gave it to me, whispering that I might be good enough to seal hers with mine and that Sarah had promised to take them both to Frances.
    I went back to my closet and there wrote my letter to Frances, but just as I was finishing, Sarah Jennings came in.
    â€œI shall have to go now,” she said. “So I will take the letters.”
    â€œMy sister’s is not yet sealed. Will you please seal it for her while I do mine?”
    As I gave her the letter, Lady Frances came in and I had a notion that she might have heard some of the conversation.
    I felt my face grow scarlet. Suppose she asked to see the letter? I could not bear to think of those cool eyes reading the impassioned words. She would not understand at all and they would seem quite foolish to such a practical person. I had called Frances my husband and I was her adoring wife.
    Sarah was calm enough. In any case, she had nothing to fear. She was just standing there with Anne’s letter in her hand.
    As Lady Frances came into the closet, I was so embarrassed. I stammered something about my new gown and asked how she liked it. I turned to the cupboard and opened it so that my back was toward her and she could not see my flushed face.
    Lady Frances said: “My Lady Mary, what were you doing in your closet before I came in?”
    Sarah stood there with an air of nonchalance, Anne’s letter still in her hand.
    â€œI . . . had called in Mrs. Jennings to show me a new way of sealing a letter,” I said.
    Lady Frances looked at the letter in Sarah’s hand and there was a slight pause before she said: “Mrs. Jennings is very ingenious with such things.”
    There was an awkward silence and then she left us.
    Sarah shrugged her shoulders. “Let us seal the letters,” she said, “and I will take them to Mrs. Apsley without delay.”
    After that I fancied Lady Frances was very watchful and when next I wrote and Richard Gibson was still away and Sarah was unable to deliver the letter, I summoned one of the footmen and asked him to take it, in spite of the fact that Frances had warned me not to send letters unless it was by someone whom I could trust.
    I was sure then that Lady Frances was watching us closely, for that letter fell into her hands.
    I was horrified when she came to my closet and said that she wanted to talk to me. She was very respectful, as always, but her mouth was set in stern lines and I saw that she was determined to do what she considered her duty.
    She said: “You have been corresponding with Mistress Apsley.” She held up the letter which I had given to the footman. She must have ordered him to give it to her.
    â€œYou . . . have read it?” I gasped.
    â€œLady Mary, your father has put me in charge of this household. It is therefore my duty to know what goes on in it.”
    I was trying to think what I had written in that letter. I was always in a state of high emotion while I wrote them, words flowed out and I was never sure half an hour afterward what I had said except that all the letters contained pledges of my constant love.
    Then I remembered that I had mentioned something about the scandal concerning the Duke of Monmouth and Eleanor Needham and that the Duchess of Monmouth had taken the matter mightily to heart.
    That had been indiscreet, of course, and I should not have referred to it. Nor should I, if I had thought anyone was going to read it other than Frances. I was rather proud of my eloquence and I remembered the end. “I love you with a love that never was known by man. I have for you more excess of friendship than any woman can for woman and more love than even the most constant husband had for his wife, more