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failed…’
    ‘I ramble, child.’
    It was a lie, of course. She was not rambling. Why would they treat her as a child? It was true she was only nine years old but the last year at the Court of Saxony had taught her more than most children learn in ten. She knew how frightening marriage could be; but she thought: Had I been Mamma, I would not have allowed it to happen. What would she have done? She was not sure. But she believed she would have found some way of avoiding a position which was degrading, wretched, and had now become very sinister indeed.
    ‘If anything should happen to me, Caroline… are you listening?’
    ‘Yes, Mamma.’
    ‘You should go back to Ansbach.’
    ‘Yes, Mamma.’
    ‘You could write to the Electress of Brandenburg. She was my good friend until she persuaded me to this marriage.’
    Caroline spoke hotly in defence of her beloved Sophia Charlotte. ‘But, Mamma, you need not have married had you not wished to.’
    ‘You are a child. What do you understand? I would to God I had remained a widow… for he will do nothing for you… nothing for me and nothing for you. No, you had best go back to Ansbach. Your brother will help you.’
    ‘I am two years older than he is, Mamma. Perhaps I can help him.’
    Eleanor smiled wanly. ‘Go and call someone,’ she said. ‘I’m beginning to feel ill again. And don’t come back till I send for you.’
    ‘Yes, Mamma.’
    She called the attendants and then went to sit in the ante room.
    She heard her mother groaning and retching.
    She thought: What will become of me when she is dead?
    It was not now a question of trying to listen. Caroline could not escape the whispers.
    ‘It was an attempt to poison the Electress Eleanor.’
    ‘By whom?’
    ‘Come, are you serious? Surely you can guess.’
    ‘Well if there is to be a new law that a man can have two wives why bother to rid themselves of the first?’
    ‘It’ll never be a law. That’s why. They know it. They will keep to the old ways. It’s been used often enough and is the most successful.’
    ‘Poor lady. I wouldn’t be in her shoes.’
    ‘Nor I. He’ll have the Röohlitz… never fear. He’s set on it and so is her mother.’
    ‘Poor Electress Eleanor, she should watch who hands her her plate.’
    They were planning to poison her mother. They had tried once and failed. But they would try again.
    She was frantic with anxiety, but to whom could she turn? She, a nine-year-old girl without a single friend in the palace – what could she do?
    If only the Electress Sophia Charlotte were here, she could go to her, explain her fears, be listened to with attention; she would be told what to do and it would be the right thing, she was sure. But Sophia Charlotte was miles away and there was no one to help her.
    She went to her mother’s apartments. Eleanor was in her bed, recovering from her attack, and she looked exhausted.
    Caroline threw herself into her arms and clung to her.
    ‘Oh Mamma, Mamma, what shall we do?’
    Her mother stroked her hair and signed to the attendants to leave them. When they were alone, she said: ‘What is it, my child?’
    ‘They are trying to kill you, Mamma.’
    ‘Hush, my child, you must not say such things.’
    ‘But it’s true. And what are we going to do ?’
    ‘It is in God’s hands,’ said Eleanor.
    ‘But unless we do something, He won’t help us.’
    ‘My child, what are you saying?’
    ‘I know it sounds wicked, but I’m frightened.’
    ‘Where did you hear this?’
    ‘They are all saying it. I overheard them.’
    ‘So… they are talking!’
    ‘Mamma, you don’t seem to want to do anything.’
    Eleanor lay back on her pillows and closed her eyes. ‘What can I do? This is my home now… and yours.’
    Caroline clenched her fists, her exasperation overcoming her fear.
    ‘Why don’t we run away?’
    ‘Run away! To where?’
    ‘Let us think. There must be something we can do. This is a hateful home in any case. I should be glad to leave