In the Course of Time

Stan Mason

Description

Inge Ekland, a beautiful chambermaid in the High House of the Crown Prince is discovered in bed with him by the Queen who packs her, her husband and the four children off to Liverpool to prevent a royal scandal. The son of the Crown Prince is born halfway across the North Sea. Inge's husband loses all the money given to them by the Queen in a card game on board ship so they land at Liverpool docks homeless and penniless. Ekland goes off to drink in the tavern but Bailey, a hardware/grain store owner comes with a pony and trap looking for some immigrants who failed to show. He takes Inge and the children to his store where she has to cook, clean and work in the hardware store. There are many stories, twists and turns in this tale.

Informations

• Publié par: Andrews UK
• Date de parution: 03 novembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781783335664
• Langue: English

Extrait

Title Page
In the Course of Time

by
Stan Mason



Publisher Information
In the Course of Time published in 2014 by
Andrews UK Limited
www.andrewsuk.com
The right of Stan Mason to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1998
Copyright © 2014 Stan Mason
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Any person who does so may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.



Chapter One
The Queen of Sweden, Lady Louise Mountbatten, the wife of King Gustav the Fifth, was forced to take the matter in her own hands. Information had been passed to her by a reliable source that her son, the Crown Prince, had bedded an attractive chambermaid at the House of Tesser in Stockholm and that she was carrying his child which was due within a month. It was a situation which had to be confirmed or proved to be false and there had to be a remedy to avoid a royal scandal.
Without the knowledge of the State, she had hired one of the most reputable detectives in the country independently. Her suspicions had been raised one month earlier when rumours about the conduct of the Crown Prince and the chambermaid reached her ears and the dangers of a major scandal for the monarchy began to fill her mind. Worst still, the chambermaid proved to be a married woman with four children. If it were true, the outcome was untenable. In her heart, she sincerely hoped that the rumours were false and that the evidence provided would be able to vanquish her concern and she decided to make it her business to find out the truth for certain. The detective was employed shortly and, after examining his findings, he became very concerned. It had taken him a full two weeks to check and recheck the facts and he finally came to a conclusion becoming well aware of the implication of his report which would have a profound effect on the monarch and in the State in general. Indubitably, he had no medical evidence by which to verify the facts but he knew from the information he had gathered that thee were sufficient details to prove the case. He had identified dates, names, locations, the evidence given by Inge Ekland herself, as well as that provided by her husband who was employed as a butler at the Tesser House, and some of the footmen. However, without any means by which to quash the rumour, it looked highly likely that the conduct of the Crown Prince was going to be a serious problem for the monarchy... Unless the Queen acted swiftly of her own accord.
For the detective, establishing the details was the easy part. In this particular case, the problem was the means by which to break the dreadful news to the Queen. He though about the matter very carefully and decided in the end that there was nothing he could do except to tell her the truth however difficult it would be for her to accept. With this in mind, he travelled to the palace where he was shown into the library, waiting patiently with his heart beating faster as he predetermined the angry reaction of the Queen. She arrived shortly, wearing a very long dull plain grey dress, most unbecoming of a monarch, and sat in the comfortable ornate chair opposite him with a haughty dull expression on her face.
‘Well?’ she enquired, after a considerable silence had prevailed. ‘I hope you’re going to tell my my suspicions are entirely unfounded and that there’s no evidence to prove that the Crown Prince is the father of that woman’s child!’
The detective swallowed hard before speaking. ‘No, your majesty. You wee right in your assumption. Absolutely right.’ He paused to await her reaction but, to his surprise, she remained quite still and calm. ‘I’m afraid that the woman’s carrying the child of the Crown Prince. She’s now eight month’s pregnant.’
‘How can you be certain? Surely there must be some doubt!’ The words were fired like a hastening arrow from a bow.
‘The Crown Prince visited the Tesser House eight months ago. That’s a fact. The problem was that there was a gap of two months before and after his visit where no one else came because the Tessers were away on vacation. The dates are absolutely specific. So you see, everything points to the Crown Prince being the father of the child.’
‘What about the woman’s husband? She had a husband, dammit! Why can’t he be held responsible? It’s far more likely to be his child!’
‘I’m afraid not, your majesty. It seems that the Eklands don’t even share a room together. They both state they have had no sexual contact with each other for over two years.
‘Then there must be someone else! The Head Butler, for example, or one of the footmen. If her husband wasn’t responsible, it must have been one of them!’ The Queen was becoming desperate to find a different solution to the problem.
‘I’m very sorry, ma’am. Mrs. Ekland is know to be a very honourable person with four children. She’s a respectable woman and doesn’t care for relationships with other men. However, you may be aware of the custom in places such as the Tesser House that male visitors often make certain demands on chambermaids... especially if they’re attractive. The servants always have to succumb to the guests for fear of losing their employment. If she refused to co-operate, Mrs. Ekland and her husband, who is a butler in the House, would find themselves unemployed. She had little choice in the matter.
‘The Queen shuffled her feet slightly in irritation. ‘You’re certain the child belongs to the Crown Prince?’ she pressed, hoping against hope that she might receive an alternative reply.
‘I’ve examined all the facts, having questioned several people with discretion in the House of Tesser. It would appear that the Crown Prince has a penchant for Mrs. Ekland and they have been together, in flagrante delicto, many times in the past. In addition, the timing is most clear. I’m afraid there’s no one else who could be responsible.’
The Queen thought deeply for a moment, nodded her head, and the rose quickly holding her head high in the air. ‘Thank you for your efforts in this matter,’ she told the detective appreciatively. ‘You will of course destroy the film and all the evidence within it.’
‘You have my word on it, your majesty,’ he confided readily. It shall be done immediately.’
‘Excellent!’ she added in a business-like manner. ‘Make certain you send your account directly to me.’
‘Would you like me to do anything further?’ asked the detective, hoping that the reply would be negative.
She stared at him coldly for a moment. ‘I don’t think so,’ she replied curtly, lifting her skirt to clear the floor before departing from the room.
The detective bowed as she left but after she had gone he heaved a sigh of relief. The revelation had been far less arduous that he had imagined although the future of the monarchy was definitely in doubt. He presumed there would be an enormous scandal which could rock the country to its foundations if an illegitimate child of the Crown Prince was discovered but it was entirely out of his hands now. He had no idea how the Queen would handle the situation but monarchs seemed to have survived much worse events in history. As far as he was concerned, his job had been completed... any further matters related to it were far from his concern.
***
At the break of day, a huge grey mist hovered over the city of Stockholm like a heavy blanket and it hung there solidly the whole morning. However excessive mist was not an uncommon feature in the autumn before the snow arrived. It was the year of 1025, almost seven years since the end of a savage war which rocked the western world. The evil conflict had changed everyone’s lives irrevocably yet, even though vast changes had occurred heralding a new political and cultural era, old customs from the last century still prevailed and were being observed and carried out in some quarters. Such practices continued to be carried out in the House of Tesser, certainly one of the finest mansions in Stockholm which was still continued old sexual abuses by the privileged classes considered to be normal by the old guard. One particular example was that if any chambermaid took to their liking, after a heavy dinner and a great deal of wine, they were theirs for the taking... and there were many bedrooms in the Tesser House.
Inge Ekland stood at the window on the first floor of the East Wing staring at the mist which covered the driveway below. Her emotions were extremely mixed but her face showed little excitement. The household was in turmoil that day because Gustavus the Sixth Adolf, the Crown Prince of Sweden, was coming to dinner and he had indicated that he would stay the night. All the chambermaids were assembled early that morning by the mistress of the House to ensure that every comfort would be provided for the enjoyment of the future monarch while footmen and butlers were given specific instructions by Herr Tesser. As Inge stared down from the bedroom where the Crown Prince would be sleeping, numerous thoughts flashed through her mind. She was an honest, dedicated chambermaid whose husband, Harold, was employed as one of the butlers in the Tesser Household. She had a striking beauty which had remained with her over the years even though she had given birth to four children. Yet despite her responsibilities towards her offspring, she found a great deal of time to undertake her duties but the relationship between her husband and herself had deteriorated rapidl