'Impossible. She is dead.'

'Are you sure?'

Bute was taken off his guard; he had come to talk of Sarah and now he was confronted with Hannah.

'But Your Majesty saw the grave...'

'I saw a grave.'

'But we were told...'

'The name above the grave was not even hers. I have a feeling that she is not dead.'

'But I was told...'

'I know. But you might not have been told the truth.'

'Why should I not have been?'

'Because Hannah wanted to disappear. She wanted to make everything easy for me and that was the only way she could do it.'

'She left her children, then, you think?'

'No. She would not do that. The children are with good parents. Why should she not visit them... even be near them. She might be in the household where they are. How can we know? I believe it was Hannah I saw in the crowd.'

'You have been thinking a great deal of her lately, have you not?'

'Yes, that's true.'

'Then it would be so easy to imagine you saw her. A Quaker habit... In similar dress people look alike.'

'I knew her well... very well.'

'That is so. But Your Highness imagined you saw her. Please, Sire, it is better that way.'

'I married her. If she still lives was I married today?'

'She does not live and she was already married to Isaac Axford. It was a mock marriage you went through with her.'

'I... am not sure.'

'Your Majesty torments yourself unnecessarily.'

'That lady... the Queen will bear my children. They will be the heirs of this country... but perhaps it is Hannah's children...'

'Your Majesty is, if you will forgive my saying so, tormenting himself with impossible nightmares.'

'I want to see who lies under that stone.'

'Impossible. It is too long. Oh no... no... It would be dreadful.'

'I shall never be sure. I shall be haunted by doubts... for the rest of my life.'

'Your Majesty, there are some occasions when Kings who have the good of the people to consider should think of nothing but their duty.'

'And the truth?'

'Duty, where Kings are concerned, takes precedence over truth.'

'Then you think...'

'I think she is dead. I think that unhappy affair is at an end. I think we have a young and good King who will lead his country to greatness. Today he has united himself with a good Queen who will bear him sons to the glorification of this land.'

The King stared at his dear friend.

'You have always been right,' he said. 'I cannot believe that you could be wrong.'

'I was never more right than I am at this time. I rejoice in Your Majesty's goodness; in Your Majesty's marriage; in Your Majesty's heritage. Sire, there are experiences in all our lives over which we would wish to draw a veil. The thicker that veil, very often the better. We make our biggest mistakes when we look back and draw it aside. The past is done with. No good can come by going back... even in thought. Go forward. Long live the King! I say. I trust that this time next year I shall be saying "Long live the Prince of Wales!"'

'You convince me, my dear friend, as you always have done.'

Bute embraced the King and for a moment George clung to him as he had when he was a child and this man had come to the schoolroom to help extricate him from some small misdemeanour.

'You are right,' he said firmly. 'My dear friend, you are right. There is no going back. The past must be forgotten. I have my duty to my country and my Queen.'

'She will be missing you,' said Bute, smiling.

And George left him and returned to his Queen.

Bibliography.

George the Third J. D. Griffith Davies.

George III J. C. Long.

George III: As Man, Monarch and Statesman Beckles Willson.

Farmer George Lewis Melville.

The Four Georges Sir Charles Petrie The Four Georges W. M. Thackeray.

History of the Four Georges and William IV Justin McCarthy.

The House of Hanover Alvin Redman Memoira and Portraits Horace Walpole.

The Lovely Quaker John Lindsey The Fair Quaker Mary Pendered Mystery of Hannah Lightfoot Horace Bleackley.

Hannah Lightfoot W. J. Thoms A Short Political History of the years 1760 to 1763 Henry Fox, 1st Lord Holland The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox Edited by the Countess of Ilchester and Lord Stavordale History of the Reign of George III R. Bisset.

History of the Reign of George III W. Ma.s.sey Memoirs of the Reign of George III W. Belsham History of England William Hickman Smith Aubrey British History John Wade.

England under the Hanoverians Sir Charles Grant Robertson The Dictionary of National Biography Edited by Sir Leslie Stephen and Sir Sidney Lee Eighteenth-Century London Life Rosamund Baynes Powell.

Also by Jean Plaidy.

THE TUDOR SAGA.

Uneasy Lies the Head.

Katharine, the Virgin Widow The Shadow of the Pomegranate.

The King's Secret Matter Murder Most Royal St Thomas's Eve.

The Sixth Wife The Thistle and the Rose.

Mary, Queen of France Lord Robert.

Royal Road to Fotheringay.

The Captive Queen of Scots.

The Spanish Bridegroom.

THE CATHERINE DE MEDICI TRILOGY.

Madame Serpent The Italian Woman.

Queen Jezebel THE STUART SAGA.

The Murder in the Tower The Wandering Prince.

A Health Unto His Majesty Here Lies Our Sovereign Lord The Three Crowns The Haunted Sisters The Queen's Favourites.

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION SERIES.

Louis the Well-Beloved The Road to Compiegne.

Flaunting, Extravagant Queen THE LUCREZIA BORGIA SERIES.

Madonna of the Seven Hills Light on Lucrezia.

ISABELLA AND FERDINAND TRILOGY.

Castile for Isabella.

Spain for the Sovereigns Daughters of Spain.

THE GEORGIAN SAGA.

The Princess of Celle Queen in Waiting Caroline, the Queen.

The Third George Perdita's Prince Sweet La.s.s of Richmond Hill Indiscretions of the Queen.

The Regent's Daughter G.o.ddess of the Green Room Victoria in the Wings THE QUEEN VICTORIA SERIES.

The Captive of Kensington.

The Queen and Lord M The Queen's Husband.

The Widow of Windsor.

THE NORMAN TRILOGY.

The b.a.s.t.a.r.d King The Lion of Justice.

The Pa.s.sionate Enemies.

THE PLANTAGENET SAGA.

The Plantagenet Prelude The Revolt of the Eaglets.

The Heart of the Lion The Prince of Darkness The Battle of the Queens The Queen from Provence.

The Hammer of the Scots The Follies of the King The Vow of the Heron Pa.s.sage to Pontefract.

The Star of Lancaster Epitaph for Three Women Red Rose of Anjou.

The Sun in Splendour QUEEN OF ENGLAND SERIES.

Myself, My Enemy.

Queen of this Realm: The Story of Elizabeth I Victoria, Victorious The Lady in the Tower.

The Goldsmith's Wife The Queen's Secret The Rose without a Thorn.

OTHER t.i.tLES.

The Queen of Diamonds.

Daughter of Satan The Scarlet Cloak.