Chapter 54 A Week Later: I've Met Persson Again

"His Royal Highness regrets that he has no free afternoon this week."

I looked hard at the young equerry who brought me this message. "Tell Prince Oscar," I said, "that I wish to see him here at four oclock this afternoon. I have to make a special visit, and he will go with me."

"But, Your Majesty, he regrets---"

"I know, my dear count. My son regrets that he cannot accept his mothers invitation. So it isnt her invitation now. Its the Queens command."

He went. At four oclock exactly, Oscar appeared with three equerries. He was coldly polite. He hadnt wanted to come. He was even angrier when I sent his equerries away.

"Were going into the city on foot," I said. "Just you and I. Were going to a shop in the Vasterlanggatan."

The people in the streets all bowed to him. He smiled at them in return. I was wearing a veil, so they didnt recognize me. No one in Stockholm expects a Queen to walk in the streets.

"Which shop so you want, Your Majesty?" Oscar asked.

"A silk shop. It belongs to a man called Persson."

"A silk shop!" he repeated angrily. "Mama, I had important work to do this afternoon. Are you wasting my time so that you can visit a silk shop? Why didnt you let the man come to the castle?"

I felt sad. Sometimes I forget that my son is the Crown prince. "He once worked in your grandfathers shop in Marseilles," I said quietly. "Oscar, dont you understand? Theres a man in Stockholm who knew my mother and father!"

Oscar bent down to me quickly and pushed his arm through mine. A moment later we were inside the shop.

It was small, but it was full of beautiful cloth. Two young men were serving some other people. A third young man came up to me. His face told me at once who he was.

"I should like to see some silk," I said in my best Swedish. He didnt understand, so I repeated my request in French.

"Ill call my father," he said. "He speaks French very well."

Suddenly I noticed that everyone had moved to the back of the shop. I heard some of them whisper: "The Queen!" I had raised my veil, so as to look at some silk. They had recognized me at once.

At that moment, Persson appeared--- my Persson from Marseilles. He hasnt changed very much, but his hair is grey now. "Madame wishes to see some silk?" he said.

"You French is terrible, Monsieur Persson," I said. "surely I taught you to speak it better than that?"

He looked at me. His mouth trembled, but he couldnt say a word. So I tried to help him. "I should like to see your best silk cloth," I said.

At last he was able to say: "You have really come to see me, Mademoiselle Clary!"

Everyone in the shop was listening. This was too much for Oscar. "Please take Her Majesty and me into your office, and show us your materials there," he said.

We went into the little office. It was like Papas little office in Marseilles. Something on the wall above his desk seemed strangely familiar. I looked closer. Yes. It was the Rights of Man!

I introduced Persson to my son. "You dont supply silk to the court," said Oscar. "why not?"

Persson looked uncomfortable. "Since I returned from Marseilles I have been in trouble, Your Highness." He pointed to the document on the wall. "And that is the reason. The government here has never accept the Rights of Man."

I explained everything to Oscar. He took the document from the wall and brushed the dust off it. Then he carried it to the window and began to read.

Persson turned to me. "When I left you in Marseilles. General Bonaparte was planning to marry you. His sword used to hang in your house every evening. I hated it!" he said fiercely. "I was glad when your husband defeated him."

"Persson, you werent jealous, were you?"

He turned his eyes away. "I never imagined that you would agree to live in Stockholm," he answered. "I would have---" He didnt finish the sentence. But I knew what he was going to say. He would have offered me a home in the Vasterlanggatan!

"I need some material for my coronation," I said gently. "It will be on August 21. Have you any silk for a coronation robe?"

"I have indeed." He opened the door and asked his son to bring it. It was heavy silk, with real gold in it. I put it on my knee.

Oscar finished reading the Rights of Man and came to my side. "Wonderful," he said. "Exactly right. But isnt it rather heavy?"

"Its very heavy, Oscar. I carried it to the coach for Monsieur person when he left Marsielles. My father was going to supply it to Queen Marie Antoinette. Unfortunately she was guillotined. Papa said that only a queen could wear it. So Persson bought it, because Sweden still had a queen."

"I couldnt supply it to her," Pesson added, "so I refused to sell anyone else. And Im not going to sell it now."

"Not even now?" said Oscar.

"Not even now, your Highness." He bowed very low to me. "Your Majesty, will you allow me to give you this silk as a present?"

There were tears in my eyes and I couldnt speak. I could only nod, and smile weakly.

I was looking at the place on the wall, where the Rights of Man had been. He saw my look. Then he took the document and wrapped some paper round it. "Please, Your Majesty, will you accept this too? The police used to stop me if they saw it in my hand. So Ive wrapped it up for you."

Oscar and I left the shop and walked slowly back towards the castle. His arm held mine. We didnt speak, but we both were thinking deeply.

When we reached the Malar bridge. I said: "Listen, Oscar. Perhaps you think that weve wasted an afternoon. We havent. Weve brought home the Rights of Man. That document is very important to me. It was once my fathers copy. Now it is yours."

Oscar stood and thought for a moment. Then he took the document out of its paper cover, and he let the paper fall into the Malar. "Im not ashamed of carrying it through the streets, Mama. Now lets hang it on the wall in your own room."

When we reached the castle gate, he suddenly laughed. "Mama, your old friend was wonderful. He wished he had asked you to marry him in Marseilles! What would Papa say if he knew that?"