The woman dropped a brief curtsy, her cheeks red, and rustled away without a word.
Another woman pressed closer to the King, her hand on his arm. He looked a little nervously at her, smiling in a conciliatory fashion. She pouted back at him and whispered something, then smiled at Cornelia, to her surprise.
‘You must bring your wife to sup with me, Rendel,’ she said very sweetly.
Rendel bowed. ‘You are very kind, Lady Barbara.’
The King nodded. ‘Aye, do so, do so.’
Then, with another lazy smile, he walked on and Cornelia could finally relax.
She stared after the Court party, watching the many waiting parties bow and try to catch the King’s roving eye. So, that was the infamous Lady Castlemaine? She had been very friendly. It seemed surprising, for she was rumoured to dislike all women.
Rendel led her down the gallery, acknowledging coolly the greetings which came from those he knew, introducing her to some of his friends here and there, and then out into the cool fresh air.
They drove back to their own house in silence. She looked secretly at her husband now and then, wondering what dark thoughts possessed him to make him scowl out of the window. Was he thinking about Germaine, Countess of Wolverton? She could imagine that a man who had once been in love with her might find it hard to forget that strong, possessive face, with its classic beauty and arrogant assurance.
‘It was kind of Lady Castlemaine to invite us,’ she ventured to say.
He turned upon her a hard, angry face. ‘You will not mention that name. We shall not sup with her, nor will you be at home if she should call. Do you understand?’
Cornelia, puzzled and hurt, nodded without speaking. Why did he use that harsh tone? What had she said to make him so angry?
Lavinia and George were supping with them that evening. While the men remained over the supper table, passing the wine, the two girls withdrew for a cosy gossip about Cornelia’s impressions of the palace of Whitehall.
Lavinia laughed at Cornelia’s description of the brief meeting with the King. ‘So Barbara was very kind to you? Well, that is not so surprising. ‘
‘I thought she disliked other women. ‘
Lavinia looked half-pityingly at her. ‘She detests all of her own sex, especially the pretty ones. But you have been useful to her.’
‘I? How?’ Cornelia gazed in innocent confusion.
‘Germaine has caught the King’s eye. Therefore Mistress Barbara detests her. When Germaine laughed at you today, the King grew angry with her and dismissed her from his presence.’
‘Is that why he sent her to find her husband?’ Cornelia’s eyes opened wide in comprehension.
‘That is why,’ Lavinia nodded. ‘Oh, you’re such an innocent. Don’t you see? You brought the King’s wrath down upon Germaine, so Barbara was pleased with you. Her pleasure would not last. She will remember, when next she sees you, that you are young and pretty, and may amuse the King. Then she will hate you.’
Cornelia grimaced. ‘I do not think I would like Court life. It is too complicated and too immoral. I am not cut out for a life of intrigue and deceit.’
Lavinia gazed thoughtfully at her. ‘I do not think Rendel intends you should have much to do with the Court. I know him. He is too serious to enjoy dissipation for long.’ She laughed. ‘He is even beginning to take his parliamentary duties seriously.’
Cornelia was content that it should be so, but she was not as confident as Lavinia. Rendel was still too much of a mystery to her.
She had other things on her mind very soon. Certain signs she began to notice in herself made her suspect that she might be pregnant, but, too shy to confide in Lavinia, she had only a very vague knowledge of her own body to guide her, and could not be sure. She had never discussed such matters with her mother. Nan, when she mentioned it, tended to agree with her but could not be certain.
‘You must visit a doctor,’ Nan told her. ‘Ask Sir Rendel to take you to his doctor.’
Cornelia was reluctant. She did not want to confess her suspicions to Rendel until she was certain of the facts, and, too, she disliked the idea of visiting a strange doctor.
The one thought in her head was to see Andrew. She had always been his patient. She tr
usted him, and, at this time, she felt an overpowering need for his comforting presence.
Her parents had visited her, in her new home, on several occasions, delighting in the wealthy surroundings of her new life, enjoying the luxury, the many servants, the elegance of her furniture.
She had not yet paid them a return visit. For one thing Rendel’s parliamentary business kept him so busy, for another her parents had not encouraged her to do so. They were proud of her new status as a gentleman’s wife. They did not want her to retain any of her old friends in the city in case such low associations should harm her reputation. Cornelia had laughed at such an idea, but, since she had been so absorbed by the new pattern of her days, she had not yet found time to return to her old home.