Little Tongues of Fire by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788670555
Publisher: PublishDrive
Published: 2018-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Strangely, because she had not expected to, Vina slept soundly and when she awoke it was very much later than she had intended.

It meant that even if she had wished to, she would be too late to go to the stables before breakfast without encountering other members of the house party.

She remembered a little belatedly that it was Sunday today and she thought that she would like to go to Church to pray for some solution for her future.

She and her father had prayed in the buildings of many different religions, in Hindu and Buddhist Temples, in Muslim Mosques and, when they were in the North, in strange Monasteries inhabited by Tibetan monks.

Her mother had told her when she was young that it did not matter where one prayed. It was the prayer itself that counted, as long as it came from one’s soul.

‘I must go to Church,’ Vina decided.

Her maid told her that there was a Communion Service at eight o’clock and she was sure that there would be nobody else in the party who would be there so early.

She put on her bonnet, which she tied under her chin with pink ribbons, and wore a shawl over her gown.

As soon as she knew what she intended, the maid had sent a message downstairs and Vina found an open carriage waiting for her outside the front door.

As she had expected, there was no one else to accompany her as she drove down the drive to the ancient Church, which was situated just inside the Park gates.

There were very few people in the pews and she thought most of them had come from the village.

The Verger, realising that she had arrived from the Big House, escorted her to the Ducal pew, which was situated at the front of the Chancel.

It was elaborately carved and there was a high reading desk in front of what seemed to be almost a throne and Vina knew that it was for the Duke himself.

She knelt down on a red velvet hassock and prayed that God would help her escape from Lord Edgar and that her uncle would not force her to marry him.

She prayed until the Service started and then tried to find some answer for what she was asking in the beautiful words of the prayers.

What they actually told her was that life was very precious and she had been wrong and wicked to try to throw it away.

She was afraid that her father would, as the Duke suggested, be ashamed of her and she prayed for forgiveness not only from him but from God, who had given her life.

Yet, when the Service was over and she drove back to the house, she knew that the same question was repeating and repeating itself in her mind,

‘How can I go on living if I have to marry Lord Edgar?’

There was some surprise among the guests at breakfast when they realised that she was late because she had been to Church.

“Of all the people

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.