02 Theirs Was the Kingdom by R. Delderfield

Author:R. Delderfield
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: 1837-1901, England, Historical Fiction, Upper Class Families - England, Upper Class Families, Family Life, Great Britain - History - Victoria, Sagas, Great Britain, Historical, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781402218224
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 1971-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Two

1

GEORGE SWANN NEVER DID THINGS IN A HURRY.

The gentle pressures that finally prised him from the muscular arms of Rosa Ledermann, and extended his odyssey south and east to the curve of the Danube below Vienna, were such that he needed time to reflect and on this account took a meandering route that led him through the Tyrol to Gratz, a journey occupying him the better part of a week. The time was not wasted. Not only was he thus able to approach the Habsburg capital from the south, a route that gave him chance to absorb the beauty and tranquillity of the countryside sunning itself under the black pines of the Parapluiberg, he also had an opportunity to cast off the mood of gentle melancholy that had accompanied him this far. The city approaches made such an impact upon him that his spirit lifted at once, as though soaring on the bars of a Strauss waltz and whirling over the vineyards, the Kahlenberg, and, finally, the imposing silver-grey needle of St. Stephen’s tower. It was as though Vienna, having no room for the glum and careworn, spied him from afar and singled him out for a civic benediction.

He was a young man who was rarely downcast and almost never troubled, yet his obligatory move had disturbed him. By then, his involvement with Rosa was deeply emotional and how could it be otherwise? For George, packing his bags for Vienna, had a suspicion amounting to a certainty that frolic was on the point of exchanging its carnival mask for fatherhood.

He could not, despite his persistent search for an honest answer, be absolutely certain of this for neither, it seemed, could Rosa, who was somewhat careless with her favours. Yet to George it seemed probable, and probability was enough to rouse his conscience, hitherto quiescent.

Judged on the standards of his day and generation, George Swann had received a very liberal upbringing; although basically selfish, he was very far from being a callous young man, and would, at a pinch, have faced the music. Rosa, however, would have none of this, having, it appeared, her own long-term plans. She saw him now as she had always seen him, a young and personable English gentleman, who had been sent out into the world ignorant, naked, and vulnerable, who was likely, indeed certain, to fall victim to the first enterprising trollop he met. It had been thoughts like this that had encouraged her to make a man of him on the night of the Oktoberfest, and she might well have left it there had not Herr Swann proved such a diligent pupil, making what she could only regard as spectacular progress throughout the winter and on into the spring. But there came a time, in the first weeks of April, when facts had to be faced and she faced them resolutely but genially, like the good Municher she was.

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