The Prince and the Quakeress: (Georgian Series) Read Free Page B

hour ago. That was the arrangement we made as he had business to which he must attend.’
    ‘And what shall you do now?’
    ‘Find a means of getting back to London.’
    ‘My lord!’ She was looking at Fred who was never one to fail in hospitality.
    He was laughing. ‘We invited you to Cliveden, my lord,’ he said. ‘There’s no time like the present.’
    What a pleasant journey. The rain had freshened the countryside, bringing out the sweet scents of the earth as they rode along, Lord Bute entertaining them on such subjects as architecture, botany and agriculture which had suddenly become quite fascinating.
    But Frederick soon led him back to the theatre and that was the most interesting topic of all.
    And so they came to Cliveden. What a pleasant day! thought Augusta, looking at the tall handsome Scotsman – and all due to the rain!

The Family of Wales
    GEORGE WAS IN the schoolroom with his brother Edward. He was dreaming idly as he often did when he should be studying. He knew it was wrong; he knew he should work hard, but lessons were so tiring, and try as he might he could not grasp what his tutors were talking about. He was watching the door, hoping his father would come in, breezy and affectionate, with a new idea for a play, for George preferred acting to learning lessons. Mathematics were a bore, but history had become more interesting because his mother was constantly reminding him that he, too, would one day be a King, and this brought the aspirations of Henry VII, the villainies, in which he did not altogether believe, of Richard III, the murders of Henry VIII and the tragedy of Charles I nearer home. These men were his ancestors; he could not forget that.
    But the lessons he really cared for were those of the flute and harpsichord. Edward enjoyed them, too. And their father was anxious that they should have such lessons; even that old ogre, their grandfather the King, loved music. This love was inherent, and it was said that they had brought it with them from Germany. Handel had been the very dear friend of several of his relations. George was not surprised.
    Unfortunately lessons other than music had to be learned, and they were not so congenial.
    ‘Some persons agreed to give sixpence each to a waterman for carrying them from London to Gravesend, but with this condition: that for every other person taken in by the way threepence should be abated in their joint fare. Now the waterman took in three more than a fourth part of the number of the first passengers, in consideration of which he took of them but fivepence each. How many passengers were there at first?’
    Oh dear, sighed George. This is most complicated.
    Edward scowled at it and demanded to know why the future King should have to worry about such matters. Was he ever likely to travel in such a way, and if he did would he be so foolish as to make such a bargain with a waterman?
    George explained painstakingly that it was not an indication that they should ever have to face such a problem in real life. It was a lesson in mathematics.
    At which Edward laughed at him. ‘My dear brother, did you think I didn’t know that?’ Whereupon George’s prominent blue eyes were mildly sad and his usually pink cheeks flushed to a deep shade.
    George was a simpleton, thought Edward. But at least he would work out the problem and tell Edward the answer, no matter how long it took him to do it. It was his duty to try to learn, George believed; and he would always do his duty.
    George had hoped his father would come to the nursery accompanied by Lord Bute, the tall Scots nobleman who had become part of the household.
    George shared the family’s enthusiasm for Lord Bute, who was always so kind and understanding to a boy such as he was. He explained everything in such a way that George never felt he was stupid not to have grasped it first time. His father was kind but sometimes impatient with him, and now and then laughed at his slowness, comparing him with