Read Online The Spider's Touch by Patricia Wynn - Free Book Online Page B

European monarch. Courtiers complained about the plainness of the ceilings and the small size of the rooms. They said it was a disgrace for the King of England to be lodged in such an old, dim edifice when Louis XIV of France lived at Versailles. Hester, who had not seen the Palace of Versailles and never expected to, had to admit that the little she had seen of St. James’s could not compare even with the splendour of Hawkhurst House. But whatever elegance was lacking in the Palace itself was more than made up by the richness of the furnishings in Madame Schulenberg’s sitting room.
    It was draped in silk tapestries, filled to overflowing with damasked chairs, gilt tables, and porcelain from China, and lit with expensive candles—all provided by the royal commissaries. The gossips said that no sooner had the King’s mistresses heard of the Board of Green Cloth and the Great Wardrobe than they had raided them both, adorning not only their apartments but themselves with the glory of dead queens.
    The gems that hung about Madame Schulenberg’s skinny neck were worth a considerable fortune. Hester believed she had seen the emerald and diamond necklace in a portrait of Queen Anne.
    Despite the opulence of her surroundings and the jewels, however, something clearly had occurred to offend the poor lady. The appearance of strangers eventually recalled her to herself. She was persuaded to sit up and take a piece of linen to cool her swollen eyes. As soon as she could speak, she invited Isabella and Hester to sit. A servant brought them tea in exquisite China dishes. Then, as she regained a degree of composure, she dismissed her ladies, assuring them that she could be left to enjoy her visitors alone.
    As La Schulenberg took a sip of tea, Hester saw that her hand still trembled. Her eyes betrayed the sort of vulnerability that put her age as sixty rather than the forty she was known to allow. After that first sip, she hardly touched a drop of her tea, which made Hester, to whom tea was still a new and much-longed-for luxury, fret at the restraint imposed by good manners.
    With the opening courtesies barely observed, Madame Schulenberg reverted to the thoughts that had overset her and still occupied her mind. “I do not underschtand de Englisch,” she wailed. “I begged his Majesty not to come to dis terrible country. I told him dat de English are a wiolent race who cut deir kings’ heads auf! But he vas assuring me dat de peoples of dat persuasion vere all on his sides. He said he vould be perfectly safe! So vy do dese peoples shout at me so and trow deir fruits when I try to go aut? I do not underschtand!”
    Isabella’s eyes were as round as platters, her nerves too frozen to let her respond. So, Hester shook her head for both of them, making suitably sympathetic noises.
    Madame Schulenberg continued, “Today, ven Madame Von Kielmansegge and I vere only taking a drive in de park—his Majesty’s own park!—some of dese ruffians trew stones at my carriage! Vy do dey hate us so? I told dem dat I haf only come for deir goots!”
    It took nearly a minute for Hester to realize that Madame Schulenberg’s last expression was an unfortunate peculiarity of her German accent. But before she understood, it had cost her an exercise of will not to cast a jaundiced eye over the draperies and jewels in the room. If Madame Schulenberg had made the same linguistic error with the crowd, they would have understood her to mean their chattels, which would have confirmed them in their worst opinions of the King and his mistresses, both.
    She tried to calm the lady, adding her voice to Isabella’s, since her cousin had fortunately found hers.
    “I am sure you have nothing to fear, madame . You must not forget how warmly you were greeted when you first arrived. And even if there is a disturbance or two, the army is near.”
    Too late, Hester recalled the recent incident with the Foot-Guards and hoped that Madame Schulenberg would not think