Dorothy Eden by Speak to Me of Love

Author:Speak to Me of Love
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

15

AFTER PLUNGING INTO MOURNING for the untimely death of Prince Albert, who had been betrothed to Princess Mary of Teck, only a year later Bonnington’s was bedecked in flags and bunting. It had been decided to marry the Princess Mary to Prince Albert’s younger brother George, and the handsome phlegmatic young lady had apparently made the adjustment without too much difficulty.

The bizarre situation suited Bonnington’s very well. They had been able to sell not only a lot of mourning clothes, top hats, black veils etcetera, but now had the more cheerful task of dressing wedding guests.

It was mid-summer, and just the weather for royal panoply, with the trees in Hyde Park a lush green and the lawns like watered silk. It had been a wonderful summer for roses. A deputation from Bonnington’s had been up very early that day and bought hundreds of blooms from the Covent Garden flower market with which to decorate the shop entrance. Mostly white, Beatrice had ordered. As symbols of purity, virginity, innocence and so on, though one wondered if the Princess was full of rapture about her second attempt at marriage into the British royal family.

Beatrice, with no intention of leaving the shop to join the thousands lining the route of the wedding procession, nevertheless felt a sympathetic rapport with the stiff shy royal bride. She would have liked to have told her that marriages of convenience could be a great success, although requiring patience and self-sacrifice. And, it need hardly be said, a dedicated and durable love.

Florence and Edwin had been permitted to go to watch the procession, so long as both Miss Sloane and Lizzie accompanied them and never let them out of their sight. Baby, naturally, was much too young although she had begun both walking and talking at a precociously early age.

Beatrice hadn’t discovered what William intended doing. He was so obstinately uncommunicative nowadays, and, in spite of all the small entertainments Beatrice arranged (she had never learned to enjoy being a hostess and only made herself sit cheerfully through the dinner parties and musical soirées for William’s sake), he still wore his vague haunted air. So romantic, the ladies murmured. But why so triste?

At least, Princess Mary of Teck wouldn’t have a Mary Medway in her life, Beatrice thought. Or one hoped not.

For a prison sentence came to an end, and then one would begin living on tenterhooks again, constantly watchful of Daisy, constantly looking for a slim dark-haired figure lurking in the streets outside Overton House.

Beatrice could not mention her fears to William, for it had become impossible to talk to him about anything except the most superficial things. It was not that he was not courteous and mild-mannered, simply that, behind his gentle smile and his handsome face, she could sense nothing but blankness.

She knew that he was happiest when dandling Daisy on his knee. That was a private pain about which she could do nothing. She refused to be jealous of a child.

Or to worry about William’s frequent absences which he never explained.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.