The Princess of Celle: (Georgian Series) by Jean Plaidy

relaxed. Angelique flew at her sister.
    ‘Oh, Eléonore … how we are going to miss you!’
    ‘You, Angelique, will not. I am to be treated with all honour. Therefore I need my own demoiselle d’honneur. Who better to fill the rôle than my own sister?’
    Angelique burst into tears of joy and when Eléonore glanced at her father she saw that he too was weeping.
    Tears of joy! Tears of relief! Eléonore herself could have joined in. The decision was made. I will never be parted from him again as long as I shall live, she thought.
    George William stood beside the Duchess Sophia at the foot of the great staircase in the Castle of Iburg, his eyes bright with pleasure and emotion. She seemed more beautiful than she hadin Breda; there was a serenity in the lovely dark eyes and when they met his he knew without a doubt that she truly loved him.
    This is the happiest moment of my life, he thought; and then immediately: It would have been happier if I had been receiving her at Celle, if I could have offered her a true marriage.
    But she had come to him at last – and he was thankful. He vowed to himself that he would spend the rest of his life making her so happy that she would not notice what she lacked.
    Sophia’s pleasant smile hid her rancour. Oh yes, she thought, she is beautiful. I don’t believe I have ever seen a woman more so. If she had been offered to him in the first place he would never have handed her over to his brother.
    ‘Welcome to Osnabrück, Mademoiselle d’Olbreuse,’ said Sophia in good French.
    Eléonore made a graceful curtsey. Everything she does she does perfectly, thought George William. A haughty piece for all her good manners, Sophia was thinking. Well, Mademoiselle, now you are here, you will have to learn your place. Fancy French manners won’t have the same effect on me as they do on my besotted brother-in-law.
    George William had taken Eléonore’s hands and embraced her before them all and Sophia was aware that those watching were softened by the scene. All the world loved lovers – except Sophia and Ernest Augustus. And beauty and charm such as this French woman possessed could always arouse interest and sympathy – unless of course they had the opposite effect and stirred up envy.
    Eléonore presented Angelique to Sophia who gave the young girl a smile and told her that she was pleased she had accompanied her sister to Osnabrück. And now she would take Eléonore to her own apartments that they might talk together for a short while before she conducted her guest to those which had been prepared for her.
    In Sophia’s private chamber coffee and salt biscuits were served. This intimate tête-à-tête was an honour Sophia reserved for her friends. It was a sign, George William was able to tellEléonore afterwards, that Sophia had taken a fancy to her and wanted everyone in the castle to know it.
    Afterwards Eléonore was conducted to her own apartments where Angelique was already waiting for her. When they were alone Angelique sat on the bed laughing.
    ‘Oh, Eléonore,’ she cried, ‘I’m so glad we came. These Germans … so plump … so slow . George William is not like one of them. He is different. But I like them, sister. I am so glad that we are here.’
    Eléonore smiled at her sister’s exuberance. She too was glad they had come.
    Those were happy days. George William rode with her in the countryside, walked with her in the gardens of the palace, and they talked incessantly of the future.
    There was to be no delay in the ceremony, which, George William declared, should be like an ordinary marriage. He had documents drafted and redrafted until they pleased him, then he showed them to Eléonore.
    ‘I want all the world to know that the only reason this is not in every sense a true marriage is because I have given my oath not to marry.’
    She was gratified, but she was also deeply in love, and there were occasions when she wanted to have done with documents and ceremonies and