Sword to the Heart (Bantam Series No. 13) Read Online Free PDF Page A

mother told her that all this preparation was because Lord Colwall wished, when she was old enough, to marry her, she knew she had worked because she loved him.
    She loved him because from the very moment she first saw him she had been sure he was the Knight who had been in her thoughts and her dreams for over three years.
    She loved him for his thought of her, for the trouble he had taken in planning her education, and most of all because he had given her Crusader.
    “His Lordship told us when he came here,” Lady Margaret had said in a hesitant, worried voice, “that when you were old enough, he desired to make you his wife.”
    Natalia did not answer. It seemed as if the small room in the Vicarage was suddenly filled with a golden unearthly light.
    She could feel her heart beating loudly in her breast and yet she could not speak, could not find the words in which to answer her mother.
    “Of course, darling,” Lady Margaret was saying, “when you meet him again, you may not care for His Lordship. In which case Papa and I would have to explain that despite all he had done, a marriage between you was not possible.”
    Still Natalia did not speak, and after a moment Lady Margaret went on:
    “But if it was not against your wishes, it would be in fact the sort of marriage I had always hoped and prayed you might make. It would be wonderful for me that you should live in the house I always loved and which as a girl was the most exciting place I ever visited.”
    “You have often ... spoken of the ... Castle, Mama,” Natalia managed to say.
    “It is so magnificent—a dream Castle,” Lady Margaret said. “Of course Cousin Ranulf’s mother was dead, but his widowed Aunt, Lady Blestow, always played hostess when there were visitors.
    “We had very gay parties at Christmas and in the summer. There was a great Ball-Room where we could dance until the early hours of the morning, and lovely gardens where there were endless amusements for young people.”
    “You have told me about it very often, Mama,” Natalia said in a faraway voice.
    “I never dreamt in those days my daughter would ever live there! But even so, Natalia, Papa and I have talked it over and we would not compel you to do anything you do not wish to do.”
    “But I do wish to marry Lord Colwall,” Natalia said, feeling as if the words came winging from the depths of her heart.
    “I had hoped,” Lady Margaret continued, “that he would visit us again, but perhaps it is best for him to wait until you are grown up. He will see then how much you have altered since he first saw you, and I know he will be interested, Natalia, to discover how talented you are.”
    She gave a little laugh.
    “Your Papa has always said that if you had been a boy, he is certain that you would have done very well at Oxford and gained a degree.”
    “When can I be ... married, Mama?”
    There was a note of impatience in Natalia’s tone, and now her mother saw that her eyes were shining as if a light had been lit behind them.
    “I do not know exactly, Natalia,” she replied. “I write to His Lordship every month telling him of your prowess. I know when he came here he spoke of waiting until you were eighteen. That will mean another year at least, and I can assure you that Papa and I are in no hurry to lose you.”
    “No, of course not, Mama,” Natalia said, almost as if it was expected of her. “At the same time, if I have only a year before I am married, then there is so much more I must learn; so much I must read. Oh, dear! How shall I get it done?”
    Lady Margaret gave her a fond smile.
    “I do not think, Natalia, that Lord Colwall will marry you entirely for your intellectual abilities. At the same time your Papa has always said that women should be educated as well as men. I must say I have often regretted that I cannot follow his more erudite arguments, or understand everything he tries to impart to me.”
    Natalia had bent to kiss her mother’s cheek.
    “Papa