Rosetta Read Online Free PDF

by violation. She is engulfed by it.

EIGHT
    The events that took place on her wedding night, on that troubled bed in the Hotel Windsor suite, were the key to much that happened afterwards. As Rosetta lay back the next morning amid the twisted sheets, she vowed that she would never forgive her husband for what he had done.
    Louis had already risen, dressed swiftly and, with barely a word to his wife, removed himself downstairs for breakfast. Rosetta, grateful for her solitude, reflected upon the circumstances that led up to the horror of the night. She recalled her pride when she had stood with Louis by her side beneath the richly embroidered wedding canopy, or chupa , a vestige of the tents occupied by their desert-dwelling ancestors in ancient times. The rabbi had presented them with two silver cups of ruby-coloured wine. One cup stood for sorrow, the other joy, a symbol of all a couple might encounter in their life. Rosetta, struggling to contain her fierce dismay, knew that the contents of the first cup had already prevailed.
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    I see her, as the wedding ceremony drew to a close, watching Louis raise one polished boot then stamp down hard upon the crystal glass that lay before him on a marble tile. This, too, was an act that harked back to a different time. Twelfth-century Kabbalists believed that there were demons intent upon ruining the newlyweds’ peace of mind. I wonder, when Rosetta saw the splinters fly, if she imagined, as did those medieval mystics, that this small act of destruction would be enough to keep the evil spirits satisfied.
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    She could not avoid it: her gaze continued to turn to the tangle of torn tulle that lay on the floor in disarray. Her pretty gown was now a distasteful, mocking reminder of her shame.
    â€˜No, I will not have it!’ Rosetta exclaimed, tearing her eyes away. She leapt from her bed and went to bathe; tried to eliminate both her bruised and bloodied soreness and her profound agitation. The warm water of the deep bath calmed her and, as her body relaxed, her mind floated free. In that liquid moment, when her anger commenced its bitter journey towards disdain, she began to formulate a plan.
    Fanny must be told of the attack – how shocked she would be! Rosetta felt certain that once her mother was informed, her own extrication from this intolerable situation would be imminent. With this conclusion came a modest recovery.
    To become swept away by strong emotions was a part of Rosetta’s nature. But, conversely, there existed that quality of mind that allowed her to detach, to coolly weigh up options and act upon them. It was strange, this trait, which permitted calculation to replace passion. In the years ahead, perhaps it was this ability that enabled her to do the unthinkable things she did.
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    As Louis sat wincing in the sunlight that flooded into the Windsor’s breakfast room, he contemplated, with an aching head, the disaster of the previous evening. In a moment of unusualintrospection, he realised that too much champagne followed by claret and whiskey and the allure of Rosetta herself – why, she’d looked nearly naked in that gown – had only added to his desire; he suspected it might have made him vile.
    Feeling irritable, he put this thought aside. After all, he was not to blame. Having paid a large sum for the hotel’s hospitality he had naturally expected that Rosetta would be, if not eager exactly, then at least grateful.
    After several steaming cups of coffee and, as a consequence, a clearer head, it occurred to Louis for the first time that he had made the wrong assumptions about the nature of his bride. He’d thought her anxious to please, a sweet, biddable girl, not the furious creature he had encountered on their wedding night.
    Rosetta had fought him, when all that he demanded was his right. True, his needs had been satisfied – even now the memory of her violent possession stirred him – but even so, he could