Read The Love Child for Free Online

yes. Who isn’t?” Leigh included us both in his smile.
    “None could be more devoted to your sex than the King himself. But Charles is wily, clever, shrewd and witty. He once said when he returned to England after that long exile that he was determined never to go wandering again, and I believe he meant that more than he ever meant anything in his life.”
    “The people love him,” said Edwin. “He has that unmistakable Stuart charm. A good deal is forgiven to anyone who possesses that.”
    Leigh took my hand and kissed it. “Look what you forgive me, fair coz, for my unconquerable charm.”
    We were all laughing and it was difficult to treat any subject seriously, and how could any of us have guessed that moment that the politics of the country could be of any importance in our lives?
    Christabel sparkled that night. She looked quite beautiful in Lady Letty’s cast-oS
    gown; she was delighted to sit at our table and I was interested to see how between them Leigh and Edwin swept away that inner uncertainty or whatever it was that set the resentment smouldering. She was eager to show that she had a greater grasp of the country’s history than I had and she turned the conversation back to current affairs.
    “Perhaps the King will divorce his wife, marry again and get a son,” she suggested.
    “He never would,” replied Leigh.
    “Too lazy?” asked Christabel.
    “Too kind,” parried Edwin. “Have you ever been presented, Mistress Connalt?”
    The bitter smile appeared momentarily. “In my position, Lord Eversleigh!”
    “If you had,” went on Edwin, “you would see at once what a tolerant man he is. Here we are talking of him thus. That would be dangerous in some reigns. If he could listen to us he would join in the discussion of his character and put us right even to his own disadvantage. Our assessment would be a source of amusement, not irrita-33
    tion. He is too clever to see himself other than what he is. Is that not so, Leigh?”
    Leigh said: “I am in wholehearted agreement on that. One day it will be realized how clever he is. It is a devious game he plays. We saw a little of that in France.
    The French King thinks he leads Charles by the nose. I would say that it might be the other way round. No, while Charles is our King, we shall get along. It is the succession which concerns the nation. That is why we deplore that with so many sons who according to convention should not have been born-and who are a perpetual drain on the exchequer-he cannot produce one who would be worth a little expense and give the answer to the burning question, Who next?”
    “Let’s hope that he lives on and on,” I said. “Let’s drink to the King.”
    “A health unto His Majesty!” cried Leigh, and we all lifted our glasses.
    Carl was getting a little sleepy at this stage and trying desperately to stay awake.
    My mother had protested about his being allowed to drink as much wine as he liked, but my father said he must learn to take his liquor. Carl was learning.
    Christabel drank sparingly, as I did, and the soft colour in her cheeks and the shine in her eyes was not due to the grape. She was different from the girl she had been so far. I realized that she was enjoying this with a sort of feverish excitement and I was sorry, for such occasions as this were not unusual hi our household. We always had celebrations when my parents returned from Court or I or Carl had been away on a visit. How dreary her life must have been in that gloomy rectory!
    She was far more knowledgeable about affairs than I was and she seemed anxious that both men should have no doubt of this.
    “It’s really a religious conflict,” she said. “Political conflict almost always is.
    It is not so much a question of Monmouth’s legitimacy as shall we allow a Catholic to ascend the throne.”
    “That’s exactly the case,” said Edwin, smiling at her. “James is a Catholic-no doubt of that.”
    “I have heard it whispered,” said Leigh,