He remembered very clearly at that moment his first meeting with her.
He had travelled from court to court in search of the fitting wife, and
had come at last to the palace at Ohlau in Silesia. It was in the dusk
of the evening, and as he was ushered into the great stone hall, hung
about and carpeted with barbaric skins, he had seen standing by the
blazing wood fire in the huge chimney a girl in a riding dress. She
raised her head, and the firelight struck upwards on her face, adding a
warmth to its bright colours and a dancing light to the depths of her
dark eyes. Her hair was drawn backwards from her forehead, and the
frank, sweet face revealed to him from the broad forehead to the rounded
chin told him that here was one who joined to a royal dignity the simple
nature of a peasant girl who works in the fields and knows more of
animals than of mankind. Wogan was back again in that stone hall when
the voice of the Chevalier with its strong French accent broke in upon
his vision.
"Well, we will hear the story. Well, you left Ohlau with the Princess
and her mother and a mile-long train of servants in spite of my commands
of secrecy."
There was more anger and less despondency than was often heard in his
voice. Wogan raised himself again on tiptoes and noticed that the
Chevalier's face was flushed and his eyes bright with wrath.
"Sir," pleaded Hay, "the Princess's mother would not abate a man."
"Well, you reached Ratisbon. And there?"
"There the English minister came forward from the town to flout us with
an address of welcome in which he used not our incognitos but our true
names."
"From Ratisbon then no doubt you hurried? Since you were discovered, you
shed your retinue and hurried?"
"Sir, we hurried--to Augsburg," faltered Hay. He stopped, and then in a
burst of desperation he said, "At Augsburg we stayed eight days."
"Eight days?"
There was a stir throughout the room; a murmur began and ceased. Wogan
wiped his forehead and crushed his handkerchief into a hard ball in his
palm. It seemed to him that here in this room he could see the Princess
Clementina's face flushed with the humiliation of that loitering.
"And why eight days in Augsburg?"
"The Princess's mother would have her jewels reset. Augsburg is famous
for its jewellers," stammered Hay.
The murmur rose again; it became almost a cry of stupefaction. The
Chevalier sprang from his chair. "Her jewels reset!" he said. He
repeated the words in bewilderment. "Her jewels reset!" Then he dropped
again into his seat.