Brittle Bondage

Brittle Bondage Read Online Free PDF

Book: Brittle Bondage Read Online Free PDF
Author: Rosalind Brett
equal distance in the opposite direction. The Allistons and the Clarkes, Natalie Benham, Brigadier and Mrs. Scott, Dr. Rivers, and others. Venetia concentrated on remembering names and smiling.
    The lounge filled. She was parted from Blake but adjacent to the comforting presence of Margery. On her other side stood Dr. Paul Rivers.
    Paul was thirty-two, above average height and rather heavily-built. Venetia noticed the spatulate fingers upon his glass and recollected Blake saying that Rivers was too good a surgeon to be a general practitioner; he ought to specialize. Although he had come to the district less than a year ago, his was said to be the busiest practice in Ellisburg. He gave one an impression of unshakable solidity.
    At dinner Paul sat on Venetia’s left. They discovered a common interest in gardening, and she invited him to come over in daylight to inspect the flamboyants and other flowering shrubs in the lower drive, and the grapevines which smothered the arbour. He had dined at Bondolo only once before, soon after his installation at Ellisburg.
    She was grateful for his calmness and acceptance of her, and tremulously elated each time Blake smilingly caught her eye down the length of the table. This was how it should be. Blake entertaining his friends and drawing her into their circle. She wanted so desperately to be one of them.
    Everyone was agreeable and flatteringly interested that she was so newly arrived from England.
    “Blake held out on us,” said vivacious Mrs. Alliston, the attorney’s wife. “The very last time he visited us, just before he went to Umsanga, I called him the typical confirmed bachelor and he didn’t turn a hair. What do you think of that for deception! I’m afraid you’ve got a deep, dark horse for a husband, Venetia.”
    “I believe I have, but I’m transparent enough for both of us,” she commented.
    “You’re not frightened at the thought of settling in a strange country?”
    “Not a bit. Were you frightened when you first came from England?”
    “My circumstances were different. I was newly married, too, but to a man I had known for years—in fact, we’d grown up together.
    “Tactfully put,” inserted Blake equably. “Venetia, my dear, it would appear that in simultaneously tackling both Natal and me you’ve earned the admiration of the whole neighbourhood. Isn’t that what you mean, Mrs. Allison?”
    “Heavens, no, Blake! I’d trust you to take good care of anything that’s yours, and Venetia has absolute faith in you or she wouldn’t have married you. I should say that you’re going to be very happy. Believe it or not, my curiosity was conventional. I merely wondered whether she found South Africa, in its complete contrast to any other country in the world, just a little terrifying.”
    “Perhaps it’s fortunate that, apart from England, I’ve never set foot in any other country,” Venetia returned. “Since living in Natal, I feel sure there’s no other place half so fascinating.”
    This drew applause from the men. Blake gave her the suspicion of a wink and called for more wine. For his sake Venetia glowed. Blake’s party was going to be a success, and she was contributing her mite towards that end.
    The women rose, and the men moved outside. From her bedroom, where she bathed her face in cold water and used fresh make-up, Venetia could hear the boom of masculine talk and laughter.
    Someone out there, unaware of her proximity, observed amiably:
    “She’s a pretty girl, and intelligent, but hardly Blake’s cup of tea, do you think? I always thought he’d marry a woman of farming stock, like Natalie Benham.”
    Venetia took a clean handkerchief and dusted a few grains of powder from her dress. She recalled Natalie Benham as the dark person with a smooth, tanned skin and a moulded dress of stiff ivory silk; by far the best-looking woman here tonight.
    Feminine tones joined the others. Hurriedly, Venetia switched off the lamp and opened her door to
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