Shadow of the Moon Read Online Free PDF

gallantry.
    â€˜Not in the eyes of the law,’ said Marcos.
    â€˜Lady Emily will not hear of it,’ said Sir Ebenezer, cravenly shifting his ground. ‘She has set her heart on removing to Delhi immediately. She had hoped by doing so to avoid a declaration.’
    â€˜Am I then so undesirable a
parti?
’ demanded Marcos bitterly.
    â€˜No, no,’ said Sir Ebenezer unhappily, ‘it is not that. It is that she would have wished … Sabrina’s grandfather would have wished the child to marry someone who resided in England. Your home is here, and if she marries you it is here that she will live her life. That will seem a sad loss to those of her family who love her most dearly. You do not realize how great an affection my father-in-law has for Sabrina. It would be a cruel blow to him if she should remain in this country.’
    â€˜There is no reason why we should not visit England on occasions,’ said Marcos with the buoyancy of youth.
    â€˜That is not at all the same thing. To see someone you love once in six or eight years, and then only for a few brief months, is not enough.’
    â€˜But I too love her!’ said Marcos passionately. ‘Am I to sacrifice my happiness and hers so that her grandfather may be made happy?’
    â€˜Oh, well,’ said Sir Ebenezer, giving the matter up. ‘I cannot think what my father-in-law will say to all this. What a plague and a problem women are!’
    He wondered what he was to say to Emily: Emily was going to be difficult.
    Emily was more than difficult. She was distraught. ‘You should have made him see how impossible it is - how unthinkable! Oh, what will Papa say? How could you consent to such a thing?’
    â€˜But my dear, I have not given my consent. I could not do so even if Iwished. I am not Sabrina’s guardian, I am only her uncle by marriage. Besides, the girl is of age, so we can only hope that your father’s wishes may count with her. She must at least wait until his views are made known.’
    â€˜We will remove to Delhi immediately,’ said Lady Emily. ‘And if Marcos attempts to follow us I shall send Sabrina home to Papa, even if I have to take her myself.’
    â€˜But I cannot go with you,’ said Sabrina, starry-eyed with happiness. ‘I am going to marry Marcos.’
    â€˜You are going to do no such thing! I refuse to allow it.’
    â€˜You cannot stop me. Darling, darling Aunt Emily - do not be unkind. I am so happy. I never knew that anyone could be so happy. Do you not wish me to be happy?’
    Emily wrung her hands and wept.
    Sabrina would not leave Lucknow and Emily could not remove her by force, since as Marcos had already pointed out, she was of age and could therefore marry whom and when she wished. She had agreed, however, to make no plans until her grandfather’s wishes were made known.
    Emily, Sir Ebenezer, Marcos, Conde Ramon and Sabrina all wrote to the Earl of Ware, and Marcos wrote to Rome for a dispensation for his marriage. Emily cancelled her visits to Delhi and Calcutta and remained in Oudh. Her husband went, but he went alone.
    The Christmas mails from England brought with them the news that Huntly - Herbert and Charlotte’s only son - was to marry Julia Pike, the daughter of one of Charlotte’s oldest friends. The wedding would take place in the spring and the Earl wrote to urge the immediate return of both daughter and grand-daughter so that they should be at Ware for the wedding of his only grandson. Sabrina, said the Earl, had stayed quite long enough in the East and it was high time she returned home. He added a postscript to the effect that Captain Dennis Allington had recently married the daughter of a wealthy cotton-manufacturer from Manchester.
    Although Emily had known that these letters could not possibly contain the answers to those that had been dispatched homeward less than two months ago, guilt had made her eye the packet