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Queen Victoria-Part11_Lytton Strachey(1880-1932)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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repeated once again that seeing Albert would be "a disagreeable thing." But

there was no escaping the horrid business; the visit must be made, and she



must see him. The summer slipped by and was over; it was the autumn already;

on the evening of October 10 Albert, accompanied by his brother Ernest,



arrived at Windsor.

Albert arrived; and the whole structure of her existence crumbled into



nothingness like a house of cards. He was beautiful--she gasped--she knew no

more. Then, in a flash, a thousand mysteries were revealed to her; the past,



the present, rushed upon her with a new significance; the delusions of years

were abolished, and an extraordinary, an irresistible certitude leapt into



being in the light of those blue eyes, the smile of that lovely mouth. The

succeeding hours passed in a rapture. She was able to observe a few more



details--the "exquisite nose," the "delicate moustachios and slight but very

slight whiskers," the "beautiful figure, broad in the shoulders and a fine



waist." She rode with him, danced with him, talked with him, and it was all

perfection. She had no shadow of a doubt. He had come on a Thursday evening,



and on the following Sunday morning she told Lord Melbourne that she had "a

good deal changed her opinion as to marrying." Next morning, she told him that



she had made up her mind to marry Albert. The morning after that, she sent for

her cousin. She received him alone, and "after a few minutes I said to him



that I thought he must be aware why I wished them to come here--and that it

would make me too happy if be would consent to what I wished (to marry me.)"



Then "we embraced each other, and he was so kind, so affectionate." She said

that she was quite unworthy of him, while he murmured that he would be very



happy "Das Leben mit dir zu zubringen." They parted, and she felt "the

happiest of human beings," when Lord M. came in. At first she beat about the



bush, and talked of the weather, and indifferent subjects. Somehow or other

she felt a little nervous with her old friend. At last, summoning up her



courage, she said, "I have got well through this with Albert." "Oh! you have,"

said Lord M.



CHAPTER IV. MARRIAGE

I



It was decidedly a family match. Prince Francis Charles Augustus Albert

Emmanuel of Saxe-Coburg--Gotha--for such was his full title--had been born



just three months after his cousin Victoria, and the same midwife had assisted

at the two births. The children's grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Coburg,



had from the first looked forward to their marriage, as they grew up, the

Duke, the Duchess of Kent, and King Leopold came equally to desire it. The



Prince, ever since the time when, as a child of three, his nurse had told him

that some day "the little English May flower" would be his wife, had never



thought of marrying anyone else. When eventually Baron Stockmar himself

signified his assent, the affair seemed as good as settled.



The Duke had one other child--Prince Ernest, Albert's senior by one year, and

heir to the principality. The Duchess was a sprightly and beautiful woman,



with fair hair and blue eyes; Albert was very like her and was her declared

favourite. But in his fifth year he was parted from her for ever. The ducal



court was not noted for the strictness of its morals; the Duke was a man of

gallantry, and it was rumoured that the Duchess followed her husband's



example. There were scandals: one of the Court Chamberlains, a charming and

cultivated man of Jewish extraction, was talked of; at last there was a



separation, followed by a divorce. The Duchess retired to Paris, and died

unhappily in 1831. Her memory was always very dear to Albert.



He grew up a pretty, clever, and high-spirited boy. Usually well-behaved, he

was, however, sometimes violent. He had a will of his own, and asserted it;



his elder brother was less passionate, less purposeful, and, in their

wrangles, it was Albert who came out top. The two boys, living for the most



part in one or other of the Duke's country houses, among pretty hills and

woods and streams, had been at a very early age--Albert was less than






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