‘I was wondering if Your Highness would be so gracious as to show me the gardens …’

It was an invitation – a reminder of alfresco meetings.

He hesitated; he was not quite sure whether he wanted Marie to be his partner for the night. In fact he had had his eye on another young woman and she was only waiting for the summons.

Clumsily he agreed to escort her but the cool evening air was not conducive to passion and in his crude way George Lewis made it clear during that garden walk that he had no intention of returning to the relationship which he had once enjoyed with Marie.

In the apartments assigned to her in the Hanover Palace Marie lay on her bed and gave way to her passionate rage.

‘So I have been kept away too long! Why did I ever come back? They are all laughing at me. They know what’s happened. And at the moment he’s doubtless sniggering about me with that low German whore …’

‘Be silent,’ said Clara. ‘It’s a bitter disappointment, I admit. I can’t see that you’ve become less attractive while you’ve been away.’

‘He’s changed. He’s more of a boor than ever. There’s only one thing I’m thankful for. I don’t have to submit to him and his soldier’s lust.’

‘Don’t be an idiot, Marie. You came here to continue as his mistress, and if you had been able to get back in favour we should have had him on leading strings. That was what we wanted, for now that he’s getting older he’s beginning to become more important in Hanover. Has it ever occurred to you what would happen if Ernest Augustus died! We should be where we were when we first came to Osnabrück. Do you remember? The poor Meisenburg girls … looking for a place?’

‘We should never go back to that … with all you have managed to put away.’

‘No, but there are many people here who would like to see me lose my power. It’s a great blow that George Lewis doesn’t want you now.’

‘What am I going to do? Stay here … and hope?’

‘It’s too undignified. I’ll have to find a worthy husband for you and you can settle down to be a virtuous wife.’

‘Well, providing he’s rich enough …’

‘He will be.’

‘And what of George Lewis?’

‘He’s a problem. Imagine if one of my enemies became his mistress. Then there would be trouble.’

‘It mustn’t happen.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll see that it doesn’t. But it’s a blow, my dear sister. I had counted on you.’

Clara was delighted to discover Ermengarda Melusina von Schulenburg, the daughter of a poor nobleman, who believed that it might be possible to make her way at court. She had been presented to the Baroness at Monplaisir and as soon as Clara saw the girl she was interested in her.

She welcomed her to her house and suggested a visit, and while Ermengarda was with her Clara devoted a great deal of time to her, which was very flattering.

Clara would give the girl tasks which brought her to the bed-chamber but she was always careful that she did not appear on those occasions when Ernest Augustus called at her house.

It seemed to Clara, who since Marie’s failure had been desperately seeking the right girl, that she had found her. She thought a great deal about Ermengarda. In the first place she was outstandingly beautiful and just a little stupid. No, perhaps not stupid but … malleable. She was the soft clay which Clara could mould, and would therefore be the perfect tool. And she had more than the prettiness that had been Marie’s when she was nineteen. Ermengarda was a beauty – statuesque and beautifully curved, a goddess. She was entirely German – a Valkyrie without the fire and spirit – a docile Brynhild. Her hair was long, abundant and fell to her waist in rippling waves – vital strong hair; her features were large but regular, her eyes a vivid blue and enormous.

Although she was a startling beauty she was yet retiring, though not too much so. She was even modest, and in spite of her physical perfection she would make George Lewis feel powerful. She was the perfect woman.

But she must be trained. No quick in and out of bed for Ermengarda. She had a position to hold and Clara was determined that she should hold it – never forgetting who had groomed her for greatness, always remaining grateful to her benefactress.

There were conversations in the bedchamber.

‘Ermengarda, my dear, how graceful you are! Your beauty should take you a long way.’

‘Oh thank you, Baroness.’

‘Thank rather Providence which gave you such power.’

‘Power, Baroness?’

‘There is power for you if you know how to use your beauty, my child. I knew how to use mine and you see what has happened to me.’

‘But you are so clever. I am rather stupid, I fear.’

‘Men frequently prefer stupidity to cleverness, particularly if they are rather stupid themselves. I think that if you allowed yourself to be guided …’

‘Guided, Baroness?’ Even the way she frequently repeated what was said had a charm of its own. It made her seem more docile, or more stupid. Clara was pleased with her.

‘I am fond of you. I would always help you if you came to me. Ermengarda, promise me that you will always come to me to tell me of your troubles … and of your successes. I look upon you as my child.’

‘How kind you are to me, Baroness, and I thought …’

‘That I was not kind. It is my enemies who say that and I grant you I am not kind to them. But we shall remain friends, Ermengarda. Now promise me that we shall.’

‘I promise.’

‘And I know you are one who, having given your promise, would never break it. Tell me would you like to be like me … rich and powerful?’

‘Oh yes. Baroness.’

Clara laughed.

‘Sit down, my dear. Now I will tell you something. You can be, you know.’

‘I would not be clever enough.’

‘Didn’t I say I should always be at hand to help you and didn’t you promise to bring all your troubles to me?’

‘Yes, but that wouldn’t make me like you, Baroness.’

‘Bah! Nonsense, child. How would you like to have a lover?’

‘I think I should like it.’

Clara closed her eyes and whispered: ‘A great Prince … the first in the land. How would you like that?’

‘A Prince!’ murmured Ermengarda. Repetition of course, but ecstatic. This is my woman, thought Clara.

‘The Crown Prince of Hanover would adore you.’

She waited in trepidation. George Lewis was such a boor. Was the girl going to shrink in horror?

But now she was looking expectantly at the Baroness. Clara sat up in bed and smiled at her protégée.

‘I should love to see his eyes when they discover you.’

‘You think …’

‘I think he’ll want to make you his mistress.’

‘And, Baroness, what should I do?’

Clara leaped out of bed and caught the girl by the wrist. ‘You, my dear child will do exactly as I tell you.’

Everyone was talking about the beautiful Fraulein von Schulenburg whom the Baroness von Platen had brought to court. She was one of the loveliest girls seen there for a long time. Sophia Dorothea might be more beautiful in some eyes but the little Schulenburg or rather the big Schulenburg, was the typical German beauty.

Morever there was nothing arrogant about her; she was becomingly modest, even shy; there were many men at court who would have made approaches to her but from the first it was seen that George Lewis had his eye on her.

George Lewis was enchanted with her; and she seemed so with him, in a bewildered way as though she could not believe such good fortune as to attract him could possibly be hers.

He was at her side during the evening of dancing and card playing or listening to music, and often was seen riding with her.

The Princess Sophia Dorothea had never interested herself in her husband’s women; her attitude towards them had been one of cool indifference which perhaps she had learned from Duchess Sophia; so she refused to see in Fraulein von Schulenburg anything different from the scores of other women who had caught her husband’s fancy temporarily.

But George Lewis’s feeling for Ermengarda was different from that which he had felt for any other woman – even Marie von dem Bussche. Ermengarda to him was the perfect woman; since he had first met her he had scarcely been aware of any others. Although she was so beautiful she was so humble – what a perfect combination! She made no attempt to hide her pleasure in the attentions of the Crown Prince; she made no demands; she was taller than he was but as a man of slightly less than medium size he liked big women. In her company he became less clumsy, even tender.

Clara was as delighted with her as George Lewis was; and Ermengarda remained as humble towards the Baroness as she had been in the days when she first came to Monplaisir. It could not have been better if Marie had stepped into her old place.

Now George Lewis was provided with a mistress who had come to stay and this must necessarily mean the diminution of Sophia Dorothea’s power. But Clara wanted more than this; she wanted to humiliate Sophia Dorothea publicly – she wanted to force her to accept Ermengarda; and she set about planning to do this.

First she must keep her promise to Marie who must have a husband found for her without delay. It was, in a way, an insult to the family to have Marie the neglected mistress even though she had been supplanted by the woman Clara had chosen.

General Weyhe was a man of great wealth and great ambition, with a large estate a few miles from Hanover. He would know that marriage into the Meisenburg family could bring him all sorts of opportunities and as soon as Clara suggested this would be the case, he was ready to discuss terms with her. It was simple: marriage with Marie. She was a beautiful woman and sister to the Baroness Platen; all wise men knew that Clara was at the right hand of Ernest Augustus when honours were handed out at Hanover.