Abigail's Cousin (5 page)

“It seems he
liked everybody, I mean all the servants in the family, apart from
one person."

Sarah had got
bored, as she was wont to do when the talk was of servants and
their doings, yet her cousin's last remark invoked her opprobrium
and she thought, the impudence of the man, with his likes and
dislikes; who do these Hills think they are! Yet she refrained from
voicing her thoughts not wishing to hurt her cousin's feelings. She
simply commented acidly:

"And who might
that be?" getting the reply of Samuel Masham, whereupon she sat
upright retorting: "I confess to harbouring some distaste for your
brother's views until this moment. Did he say why?"

"It seems
mister Masham is wont to accuse my Jack of not being a gentleman,
like himself."

All sorts of thoughts inhabited Sarah's
mind upon hearing that reply, and Abigail wondered, seeing her
cousin's cheeks reddening whether it was through anger over the
implied rebuke for placing Jack in Prince George's household or
whether she blushed on
remembering her own upbringing.

Naturally
Abigail was reticent and Sarah also being silent there reigned an
uneasy quiet broken by the hatch suddenly being opened and Tom,
appearing and saying:

"Begging your pardon, ma'am, that spire
over on the right be St Mary's church atop Harrow on the Hill. See
that milestone. It says eight mile to London. Turnpike be our next
stop.
And then non-stop
to London."

-------------------------------------------------

Tom brought
the carriage to a halt on the approach to the portico entrance of
St James Palace from which a uniformed servant emerged even before
the carriage had stopped opening the door and unfixing the hinged
steps which was the signal for Lady Marlborough to arise from her
seat and alight accepting the servant's gloved hand. She graciously
waited the few moments for her cousin to join her and both upon the
servant's invitation proceeded through the portico into the covered
walkway leading to the main building entrance.

As they walked between the parallel rows
of
Doric columns, they
were passed by servants who, according to gender, curtsied or bowed
to Sarah but completely ignored Abigail who did not mind in the
slightest. At the end of the walkway, an individual greeted both
ladies with exaggerated deference which took her ladyship by
surprise dressed as he was in an enormous red coat with epaulettes
on both shoulders, the coat reaching down to his knees, his
breeches were of cream silk and he wore shining black shoes with
gleaming buckles, completing his ensemble. His affectatious salute
brought both ladies attention to his peculiar headwear which had a
very wide peak and, with the high collar of the coat, his face was
hardly to be seen. It reminded Abigail of the flunkeys who graced
the hallways of fairy tale castles. Sarah, on the other hand, made
a mental note to ask the princess about the new uniform.

His greeting
also seemed a little extravagant: "Good morrow unto madam la
duchesse; and, to your dear lady companion. Pray permit me to
direct the ladies to their destination." Sarah was short with him
showing him the princess's seal upon her letter of invitation to
which he gave but a cursory glance asking both ladies to follow him
along passageways turning to right and left until Sarah arrived at
the door she recognised from previous visits thanking him upon
which he executed a military turn and disappeared back to his
post.

Her ladyship pointed out to her cousin a
device on a string which Abigail was to rub over one of the door
panels which had raised blisters. As she rubbed so the sound echoed
inside and before long, the door was opened and Sarah faced the
familiar form of Mrs Danvers, Princess Anne's amanuensis. At once
from in
side, a plaintive
voice called:

"Who be there
Mrs Danvers?" and upon Sarah's response came a loud scream of
delight from the same quarter and as Mrs Danvers stood aside to
allow Sarah to sweep past her in all her bustled glory, from the
direction of the day-bed upon which a woman reclined, the scream
was followed by:

"My dear Mrs
Freeman! So good of you to come to see me." The two friends quickly
went from clasping hands to fulsome hugs while Abigail, also
invited far enough inside to allow Mrs Danvers to close the door,
retiring into an ante-room, stood on the threshold of the
saloon.

Sarah broke
away from the princess to exclaim: "Your royal highness. It is so
good to be here, at last. Let me look upon my dear Mrs Morley."
Upon which survey the princess shyly looked down and then up again
spotting the figure of Abigail standing there. Sarah also noticed
saying:

"Allow me to
present my cousin, Mistress Abigail Hill." At the finish of which
Abigail curtsied but otherwise said nothing upon which the princess
spoke to her:

"Come round to
ye light, Mistress Hill. Let me look at you." After a few moments
of appraisal, the princess said: "Your cousin, her ladyship, has
spoken highly of you. Are you prepared for ye onerous duties of ye
bedchamber?"

"I believe so,
your royal highness," was her response and the princess smiled
warmly saying: "We start very early of a morning. Are you used to
getting up at an early hour?"

It was Sarah
who answered: "Lord, ma'am. She be up sooner than anybody else.
There be the cows to milk for one thing. In the country; we all do
keep very early hours. Why it'll be like a holyday for my cousin in
the city."

The princess
looked astonished saying:

"Gracious me, L
ady Marlborough. Do draw up a chair! Danvers, have
we a chair for Mistress Hill, as well?" There was an awkward pause
as Sarah did not expect her cousin to be asked but, as Danvers
found the chair for Abigail, the princess seemed unaware of it,
saying:

"Your cousin
tells me you are musical, mistress Hill." Abigail thanking Mrs
Danvers for the chair did not reply to the princess looking to
Sarah perhaps to elucidate, who happily took the cue:

"She plays the
harpsichord, right well, your highness." At which the princess
clapped her hands, clearly delighted crying out:

"Ye harpsichord! Indeed!" Then without
pause turned to Sarah: "Have yo
u seen Vanbrugh's latest play, Lady
Marlborough?"

"Lord, no, ma'am! How should I get to see
such things? Perhaps, when his lordship
resumes residence in Kensington?" At the same time
Sarah gave her friend, the princess, a knowing glance upon which
the latter cried out:

"You'll have a
great deal to catch up on." Then turning again to Abigail, she
mused: "So you play ye harpsichord. We have an instrument somewhere
in my rooms though my present family seems little musical."

Sarah did not forgo the opportunity to
take credit, deserved or not, for any foresightedness
on her part, saying to
Abigail:

"Her royal
highness sets great store by the happiness of her family servants,
and" glancing at the princess, added: "mistress Hill's musical
accomplishments will be very welcome."

"Did you see
ye keeper of ye portal. That is to let my George, I mean, his royal
highness, feel more at home. Denmark is so far away and he does
miss his home so."

Sarah played up her friend's idea with
some obsequious flattery belying the amusement she felt earlier: "I
thought I espied a little bit of home-making," wagging her finger
in mock admonishment, adding: "You spoil his royal highness. With
such consideration he won't want to return t
o Denmark, even for a holyday."

Abigail could
hardly believe what she was hearing and wondered whether the
princess discerned any flattery giving her an occasional glance to
appraise her reaction. It was the princess, who reminded Sarah of
another objective, saying:

"My dear Mrs
Freeman, I nearly forgot. You mentioned in your letter about your
cousin's near relation."

Sarah smiled
warmly at the princess: "That is just like Mrs Morley always
thinking of others." Whilst Sarah was talking the princess pulled a
length of material which Abigail noticed was attached to a rope
running across the ceiling which the princess confirmed, telling
Sarah:

"I've rung for
Mrs Danvers," then turning to Abigail, confided:

"His highness
the prince has kindly consented to your seeing your brother before
you leave." Soon another voice was heard at the door:

"You wan
g, ma'am!" It was Mrs Danvers.

Sarah stood up
a little prematurely, and Abigail perforce had to follow her
cousin, listening to Anne's instructions:

"Ah, Danvers!
Pray take her ladyship and Mistress Hill to ye prince's rooms."
Then, turning again to Abigail, said kindly: "Well, Mistress Hill,
it was good of you to come all this way to see us. Mayhap we'll
soon see more of you."

To Sarah: "I
needs must have some discourse with my dear Mrs Freeman before you
leave ye Palace."

Waiting patiently until the princess
finished and the two women joined her outside, closing the door of
the pr
incess's room, Mrs
Danvers spoke:

"Pwa
y, ladies. Step this way!"

Abigail was quick to follow Mrs Danvers
though her cousin made no effort to comply compelling the servant
to wait for her ladyship. Mrs Danvers fidgeted waiting for Sarah,
and nervously repe
ated
her invitation, by saying:

"Pway, ladies.
It is not far along the corridor." She turned to the left and then
to the right, and after walking for a few minutes emerged into a
large well-lit open area. They were on the south side of the palace
and the architects had capitalised on its situation by the erection
of a dome. Light onto the floor below was via rectangular windows,
called lunettes, around its circumference, and though gloomy by
21st century standards was, in contrast to Princess Anne's
quarters, a centre of illumination.

Sarah, in
particular, appreciated its luminosity as her finery was shown to
its best advantage and even more so as Mrs Danvers had accosted a
young page enquiring something of him. Both ladies had the time and
leisure to examine him, rather his uniform, of blue velvet coat
generously cut with silver buttons running from collar to hem which
finished at the knee.

Abigail looked at his pockets which were
more like horizontal slashes with similar buttons beneath and
solitary one just above at the end; there were also motifs of a
tree-like shape stitched just above the slash discovering later it
was the motif of Mary, King William's queen and Anne's sister.
However further examination of the page had to be postponed as he
was on his way leading Mrs Danvers and her charges away from the
annexe to
wards Prince
George's quarters.

Arriving at
the door to the prince's quarters, Abigail was slightly surprised
that there was no palaver of scratching as occurred earlier, but
the page in military style brought the party to a halt by himself
smartly halting, clicking his heels and opening a door to the left.
He addressed Mrs Danvers by name, including Abigail with his
'ladies' but singling out Sarah with his invitation to follow where
his hand pointed, with:

"Please, your
ladyship. I am honoured to direct you to his royal highness's
quarters."

To Abigail's
surprise, Sarah seemed to know him, replying:

"As smart as
ever, mister Masham, I daresay you be practising for a call to the
colours."

She had
stopped and Abigail could once again look closely at the page and
especially the wide sleeves turned generously back decorated with
more silver buttons. But it was his smile which attracted her
though it impressed Sarah less as she added, what she thought was,
a barb to her flattery, smiling, as she said:

"The smartest
page in the palace in the business of opening doors, are you not?"
Yet Masham's smile did not depart; he simply said: At your service,
your ladyship."

Complying with
the invitation both ladies found themselves in rooms markedly
different to the, by comparison, cluttered rooms of the princess.
In contrast the prince seemed to worship light as the walls were
reflective without any hanging tapestries which, Abigail recalled,
were of the princess’ favourite biblical scenes.

Furnishings,
floor coverings and lighting all seemed to contribute to a feeling
of spaciousness. As Abigail waited for Masham to notify someone of
their arrival, she felt preference for the princess's choices as
the lighting seemed harsh almost hurting her eyes.

Suddenly her
brother was greeting her: "Sis!" and hugging her as though they had
not seen each other for years, not months, and she wondered whether
for the first time, he was experiencing the loneliness that she had
long ago come to expect as part of her way of life.

Leaving her
suddenly, he might even have hugged Sarah, but contented himself
with taking both her hands in his in a generous gesture of warmth
though without the ceremony of rank. As a final gesture he
ostentatiously raised her left hand to his lips, with a cheerful
call and glance at his fellow page:

"I'll leave
the polite civilities to mister Masham, ma'am, if you do not
mind."

Sarah was
quick to riposte: "Mind or not young man, you know how to take
liberties. But I'll not hold it against you." laughing with him as
Jack confides to her: "Always good to see you, ma'am. Believe me!"
And Sarah did believe him giving his hand a playful squeeze. Then
noticing Danvers still standing there, addressed Abigail and
Jack: