The Regent's Daughter: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online

Gagarin told the story of her love for Mr Gagarin … only he wasn’t plain Mr Gagarin; he was a great nobleman in Russia who had come to the English Court on some mission.
    ‘No sooner had he set eyes on you,’ said Charlotte, ‘than he fell violently in love.’
    ‘It’s true,’ said Mrs Gagarin, her eyes momentarily soft.
    ‘And you ought to be the lady of a great mansion in Russia, dear Gagy, instead of mending my old dresses. Do you wish you were there with … him?’
    ‘It’s all so long ago, Your Highness.’
    ‘And what happened? What happened?’
    ‘You know.’
    ‘Yes, but I want to hear it again. And then you received a letter. Go on from there.’
    ‘It was from his wife, for he was married already.’
    ‘And so you were not his wife at all. Oh, my poor, poor Gagy. Your heart was broken.’
    ‘Yes, my dear Charlotte. I thought so.’
    ‘But it was mended again. I mended it, didn’t I! Oh, say it. You used to say it. You said that when you came to look after your dearest Charlotte. You did.’
    ‘Yes, as soon as I came to look after my dearest Charlotte, it began to mend.’
    Charlotte was delighted. It was the reason why she wished to hear the story so often.
    ‘Then,’ she said solemnly, ‘I cannot be so bad, can I? In spite of my lord Bish-Up’s terrible warnings of what will become of me if I continue in my ways.’
    She rocked back and forth in her chair.
    ‘You’ll break it one day, dearest Princess, if you jerk it back so sharply.’
    She did not care. What was a broken chair when she had mended a broken heart?
    They dressed her in the Charity School girl’s gown with much clicking of tongues. Indeed, what if His Highness the Prince of Wales saw fit to call? What would he say to see his daughter so attired?
    Well, it was the Bishop’s order and the Bishop would have to answer for it.
    And how did Her Highness feel to be so humiliated? She gaveno sign that she was distressed. She was smirking at her reflection in the mirror. And no Charity School girl’s gown could disguise the royal features. In fact she looked more than ever like her father.
    ‘I hope,’ said Louisa Lewis, as angry as it was possible for one of her mild nature to be, ‘that my lord Bishop will be satisfied.’
    Charlotte smiled at her dressers – her dear good faithful Louisa and Gagy of the mended heart. She loved them both dearly. She embraced them fervently, disturbing the coiffure of one and almost tearing the sleeve in the dress of the other; but they were accustomed to her rough caresses and would not have had them changed one bit.
    Into the room she went where the Bishop was waiting for her. If he expected to see her enter shamefacedly he was disappointed.
    ‘Good morning, my lord Bish-Up,’ she cried. ‘It’s a very bright morning. And look at my new gown. It’s a good fit. Do you not agree? It might have been made for me.’
    She beamed at him and pirouetted so that he might see the back as well as the front.
    He was disconcerted. He had expected some shame.
    But what could one do with such a pupil? he plaintively asked Lady de Clifford later. He feared the worst.
    In an effort to make her conscious of the evil of her ways the Bishop had warned her to repent.
    ‘How can you know,’ he had asked, ‘when your last moment will come? What if you were to die with all your sins upon you?’
    That made Charlotte think a great deal, not so much about her own fate but of that of her possessions which she would leave behind her.
    What of her darling dogs, her precious birds? She loved them so much. What a tragedy for them if she should die.
    Then there were her books. And what of her jewels? As the daughter of the Prince of Wales she had some very valuable jewels; she had even been allowed to wear some of them when she had attended her grandmother’s Drawing Room. She must really look into her affairs.
    ‘I will make a Will,’ she told Mrs Campbell.
    ‘At your age?’ demanded that lady.
    ‘My