Gift Of the Gods by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barbara Cartland EBooks ltd
Published: 2014-02-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

There was a loud rat-tat on the front door that echoed through the house and Penelope looked at Alisa and smiled.

“More flowers?” she exclaimed.

The room certainly did not look as though it needed any more and the two girls were overcome every day with the bouquets that kept arriving at their aunt’s house and the invitations which poured in.

The servants had already complained that their feet were giving out from running up and down from the basement to answer the front door and even Lady Ledbury was astonished at the commotion her nieces were causing.

What was more, the more traditional hostesses had included her in their invitations and, while at first Lady Ledbury wished to refuse, it was Alisa who persuaded her to attend one or two of the assemblies and Receptions they had been asked to.

For the first time Lady Ledbury became feminine and exclaimed,

“How can I possibly go anywhere? I have no clothes for this sort of thing.”

It was Alisa who persuaded her to buy a new gown and bonnet, which were in blue rather than black and, when she had her hair arranged by the same hairdresser who attended the house almost daily for the two girls, she really looked rather handsome.

“Why do you bother with the old thing?” Penelope asked when she and Alisa were alone.

“I am sorry for her.”

“She is quite happy with her Missionaries and her tracts.”

“I think she was drawn to good works,” Alisa commented, “because she had nothing else.”

Penelope looked at her sister in surprise as she went on,

“Can you imagine how empty her life must be when she has only those dreary Missionaries fussing all the time about black children being naked and the Vicar who can talk of nothing but raising money for his Church?”

Impulsively, Penelope kissed her sister.

“You always have something nice to say about everybody, dearest,” she said. “Whoever you marry will be a very lucky man.”

Penelope had already had one proposal of marriage, but it was from a rather stupid young man and she would not have thought of accepting him.

At the same time it was encouraging and now, as the two girls hurried down the stairs to the drawing room, they found, as they had expected, the old parlour maid taking in a bouquet, a basket filled with orchids and a long flower box.

“More flowers, Henderson!” Penelope remarked.

“As you says, miss,” Henderson replied tartly, “and I hopes it’s the last! I’m too old to keep comin’ up and down them stairs!”

She set the basket of orchids down on the floor at Penelope’s feet and then shuffled away as if her legs were too tired to carry her.

“Perhaps we could persuade Aunt Harriet to have a young footman temporarily, now that we are here,” Alisa suggested.

Penelope did not answer.

She was looking at the note that was attached to the basket of orchids and, when she saw there was a crest on it, she cried out with a note of triumph,

“It’s from your Duke.”

Alisa frowned.

“He is not my Duke.

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.