Venetia Read Online Free PDF

 aside every canon of propriety (as well as to the horrid dread of making a great cake of himself)  and ride out of York to Undershaw, either to hang about the gates of the Manor in the hope of  achieving a clandestine meeting with Venetia, or to force his way into the house.
    Only Edward Yardley, Sir Francis‟s godson, had been accorded tacit permission to cross  his threshold. He was not made welcome, Sir Francis rarely emerging from his book-room
    during his visits, but since he was permitted to walk, talk, and ride with Venetia it was generally  believed that an offer from him for her hand would be accepted by her morose parent.
    No one could have described him as an impatient lover. Venetia was the magnet which  drew him to Undershaw, but it was four years before he declared himself, and she could almost  have believed then that he did it against his better judgment. She had no hesitation in declining  his offer, for however much she might value his good qualities, and however grateful she might  be for the various services he performed for her, she could not love him. She would have been  glad to have continued on the old terms of friendship with him, but Edward, having at last made  up his mind, was apparently as determined as he was confident. He was not at all cast down by  her refusal; he ascribed it variously to shyness, maiden modesty, surprise, and even to devotion
    to her widowed father; assured her kindly that he perfectly understood such sentiments and was  content to wait until she knew her own heart; and began from that day to develop a possessive  manner towards her which provoked her very frequently to run directly counter to his advice, and  to say whatever occurred to her as being most likely to shock him. It did not answer. His  disapproval was often patent, but it was softened by indulgence. Her liveliness fascinated him,

    and he did not doubt his ability to mould  her (once she was his own) to his complete liking.
    When Sir Francis died, Edward repeated his offer. It was again refused. This time he was  more persistent, which Venetia had expected. What she did not expect was that he should  suddenly suppose that her continued reluctance to accept him sprang from what he called the  peculiar delicacy of her situation. He said that he honoured her for scruples which she privately  thought absurd, and would forbear to press her for another answer until Conway, her natural
    protector, came home. What should have put such a notion into his head she was at a loss to  discover, only two possible solutions presenting themselves to her puzzled mind: the first, that  while he was strongly attracted to her he was by no means convinced  that as his wife she would  add to his comfort; the second, that his mother had suggested it to him. Mrs. Yardley was a  colourless little woman, always submissive to his will, and kindling to mild warmth only in his  presence. She had never been other than civil to Venetia, but Venetia was quite sure that she did  not want Edward to marry her.
    With the news that there was a very real hope that the Army of Occupation would soon  be withdrawn from France the problem of the future had drawn suddenly close to Venetia. As
    she walked through Undershaw‟s small park she turned it over and over in her mind, but to no  good purpose, as she ruefully acknowledged to herself. So much rested upon conjecture, or, at
    the best, possibility, the only certainty being that when Conway returned Edward would expect a  favourable answer to his suit, and would not easily be persuaded to accept any other. That was  her own fault, of course, for having been too ready to seize the respite offered by his peculiar  notion of propriety; and to agree, even if only tacitly, that nothing could be decided until Conway  came home. Edward could hardly be expected to understand that her answer must depend largely  on what Conway meant to do. There had been a rather