63 Ola and the Sea Wolf Read Online Free PDF Page A

why we came here was that the physicians thought that the fresh air and the quiet of the country might do him good.”
    She paused before she said with a little sob,
    “Unfortunately they were – mistaken.”
    That was the beginning of an acquaintance that progressed rapidly into friendship and from friendship into love.
    The Marquis, riding away from The Manor, found it impossible to forget two blue eyes that had looked at him pathetically, curiously, then undoubtedly admiringly.
    He had returned the next day, feeling that, as he had not sent a wreath to the funeral, at least he could provide the widow with exotic fruit and flowers from his greenhouses.
    She had been suitably grateful and, of course, said how interested she would be to see Elvin, as she had always heard so much about it.
    The Marquis was only too willing to be her guide and her delight at the treasures that had been accumulated by his ancestors and the innovations he himself had made in the house was very gratifying.
    It was six months before the Marquis became what he had wished to be within a week or so after making her acquaintance, Sarah Chesney’s lover.
    But he had found to accomplish this required all his powers of persuasion and ingenuity.
    This was not because she did not love him.
    She had told him that she had loved him at first sight and he had captured her heart to the point where it was no longer hers but his.
    However, she was anxious that there should be no breath of scandal, which she said might so easily spoil the love they had for each other.
    She explained it in a way that the Marquis thought was good common sense.
    “You are so fascinating and so handsome, my Lord,” she said, “that naturally every woman you meet falls in love with you. The world being a censorious place, no one would believe that any one female could resist your magical charm.”
    “You flatter me,” the Marquis had said with a smile, but he had enjoyed it all the same.
    “‘You will understand,” Sarah had gone on in a soft caressing voice, “that I could not be disloyal to my dear Robert’s memory by getting myself talked about in a scandalous manner so soon after his death. While you can go back to London and forget me, I have to live in this small world where people talk because they have nothing better to do.”
    “Do you really think I could forget you?” the Marquis asked.
    “I hope you will not do so,” Sarah replied, “but you are so important and of such consequence in the Social world, while I am just a little nobody who worships you because you have brought me such unbelievable happiness.”
    “You know that happiness is what I want to bring you,” the Marquis said, “and I want to show you how much I love you. But as you say, it is impossible here in The Manor where your servants might be suspicious of what we were doing.”
    “They are so kind to me, my Lord. They look after me and cosset me. But they would be deeply shocked if they thought you were anything more than a kind friend who wished to comfort me in my loneliness.”
    The situation had seemed hopeless until Sarah was asked to stay with some friends on the other side of the County with whom the Marquis had a slight acquaintance.
    It had not been easy, but because he was determined he had somehow managed to get himself invited at the same time.
    They pretended that they had never met before.
    Fortunately there were quite a number of other people staying in the house and their bedrooms were not far apart.
    The Marquis, making love to a woman he had pursued for six months, found it a delight that made him feel as if he had won a victory after what had been a strenuous battle.
    He truly believed that he was in love with Sarah in a way he had never been in love before.
    The only difficulty was how they could contrive to continue their lovemaking, which the Marquis was certain had been as unforgettable an experience for her as it had been for him.
    There had been another month of