Venetia Read Online Free PDF Page B

sentimental girl-and-boy attachment
    between Conway and Clara Denny before he joined, to which Clara at least seemed to attach  importance. If Conway attached an equal importance to it she would find herself with a sister-inlaw all too ready to resign the conduct of her household into the hands of one whom she had all  her life regarded with humble admiration. That, thought Venetia, would be very bad for her, and  very bad for me too, but I don‟t think I   could   play second fiddle to poor little Clara at
    Undershaw!
    Marriage to Edward would be safe and comfortable. He would be a kind husband, and he  would certainly shield her from inclement winds. But Venetia had been born with a zest for life  which was unknown to him, and a high courage that enabled her to look hazards in the face and  not shrink from  encountering them. Because she did not repine over her enforced seclusion  Edward believed her to be content, as he himself was content, to pass all her days under the  shadow of the Cleveden Hills. So far from being content she had never imagined that this  could  be her ultimate destiny. She wanted to see what the rest of the world was like: marriage only  interested her as the sole means of escape for a gently-born maiden.
    In fact, thought Venetia, as she emerged from the park on to a narrow lane which
    separated it from the neighbouring estate of Elliston Priory, my case is clearly past remedy, and
    I‟ve nothing to do but decide whether to be an aunt to Conway‟s children, or a mother to
    Edward‟s—and I have a lowering presentiment that Edward‟s children will be dreadfully dull,
    poor little things! Where‟s that wretched dog? “Flurry!   Flurry !”
    After she had been calling for several minutes, in growing exasperation, her canine friend
    came galloping up, full of amiability, his flanks heaving, and his tongue lolling. Being
    considerably out of breath he was so obliging as to remain within her sight until, a few hundred
    yards down the lane, she entered the grounds of the Priory through a turnstile set beside a heavy

    farm-gate. This gave access to an ancient right of way, but Venetia, on excellent terms with Lord  Damerel‟s bailiff, was at liberty to roam where she liked on his domain, as Flurry well knew.  Refreshed by the brief interlude on the lane he raced ahead, in the direction of the woods which  straggled down a gentle declivity to the stream which wound through the Priory‟s grounds.  Beyond the stream lay the Priory itself, a rambling house built in Tudor times upon the  foundations of the original structure, subsequently enlarged, and said to be replete with a wealth of panelling, and a great many inconveniences. With the house Venetia was not concerned, but  the grounds had for years been the favourite haunt of the three young Lanyons. Sir Francis‟s  vagaries had not led him to neglect his estate, which he kept in excellent order. His children  preferred to seek adventure in less neat surroundings. The Priory woods, which partook of the  nature of a wilderness, exactly suited youthful ideas of what was delightful; and if Venetia,  grown to maturity, felt it to be a pity that the place should be neglected, it still held its charm for  her, and she frequently walked there, and, since its owner rarely came near it, could allow the  disobedient Flurry to range at will, chasing rabbits and flushing pheasants without danger of  drawing wrath down upon his head. The Wicked Baron, as she had long ago christened Lord  Damerel, would neither know nor care: the only party he had ever brought to the Priory had  certainly not been a shooting-party.
    His family was an old and a distinguished one, but the present holder of the title was  considered by the respectable to be the neighbourhood‟s only blot. It was almost a social  solecism to mention his name in polite company. Innocent enquiries by the children, who wanted  to know why Lord Damerel never came to