Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill: (Georgian Series) (50 page)

She did not rage against him; she was very calm, but this frightened Miss Pigot more than her rage would have done. She was broken-hearted, poor Maria, because whatever she said of him, however much she quarrelled with him, she loved him.

And he had told her publicly as clearly as he could that he did not consider her his wife.

‘I should have known, Piggy,’ she said. ‘It was clear, wasn’t it, when Fox denied the marriage in the House of Commons? He accepted that then. He never meant to acknowledge me. Oh, Piggy, I have been so foolish … so fond and foolish.’

‘It will be all right, Maria. He’ll come back. He will come back. I know it.’

‘I shan’t be here. We’re going away. We’re going at once.’

‘But where?’

‘What does it matter? It only matters that we are gone … should he come back. But he won’t, Pig. He will never enter this house again. He has said it.’

‘He will,’ said Miss Pigot firmly. ‘He will.’

The Prince came to the house in Pall Mall. The furniture was covered with dust sheets; the blinds drawn.

‘Mrs Fitzherbert has left, Your Highness.’

‘Where has she gone? Where? Where?’

‘She left no information, sir.’

So she had gone, deserted him, and he was left alone to face this situation.

How could she have treated him so. Tears filled his eyes. Maria … his
wife.

He went back to Carlton House. They were showing him portraits of a pretty girl, the German Princess who was to be his wife.

I have never been so wretched in my life, he said. No one could comfort him. Lady Jersey? He was only fascinated by
her. Maria should have known that. It was the comfort Maria alone could give him that he wanted. Why couldn’t she understand?

But he was a prince, and a Prince of Wales, and he had given his word to marry.

Soon his bride would be here and he must do his duty.

In Switzerland Maria heard that the Princess Caroline of Brunswick was coming to England to be married to the Prince of Wales.

‘This is the end, Piggy,’ she said. ‘This is the final repudiation.’

But Miss Pigot shook her head. ‘That is not true,’ she said. ‘It is not the end. Something tells me it is not. I know in my heart that whatever happens he will always come back to you.’

Maria shook her head and, smiling, tried to hide her unhappiness, trying foolishly – for how could she hide her feelings from the faithful Pig? – to pretend she did not care.

But in her heart she believed it, too. She was his wife. The bond between them would never be severed while they lived.

It was not the end. He would come back to her.

Bibliography

Mrs Fitzherbert and George IV
W. H. Wilkins,
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Percy Fitzgerland

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The Dictionary of National Biography
edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee

British History
John Wade

National and Domestic History of England
William Hickman Smith Aubrey

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Epub ISBN: 9781448150441

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First published in Great Britain 1970 by Robert Hale & Company

© Jean Plaidy 1970

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