Love at the Tower by Barbara Cartland

Author:Barbara Cartland
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-908303-92-9
Publisher: Barbara Cartland.com

CHAPTER SEVEN

But the Earl did not send for Robina the next day or the day after that.

If it had not have been for her growing sense of uneasiness, she might well not have worried quite so much that she had somehow either caused him offence or he had decided that he no longer required her services.

Laura did not make life any easier for her either by following Robina wherever she went.

‘Must she keep such a close eye on me?’ thought Robina angrily, as she spied her standing on the terrace, looking down the garden, while she sat by the fountain.

It had become one of her favourite places to sit and think and now her stepmother was making it very difficult for her to relax.

‘I hope that she is not about to come and give me yet another lecture about Lord Drury,’ she muttered, as her stepmother came walking towards her.

“Robina!”

“Yes, Stepmama.”

“I have had a letter from Lord Drury. You are most fortunate as he is prepared to forgive your bad manners and has expressed an interest in visiting us for dinner again. As it is your mother’s anniversary this weekend, I shall leave it until next week before I invite him again.”

“Very well, Stepmama.”

“And have I your promise that this time you will be cooperative?”

Robina hung her head – she had no wish to see the man ever again, but she also did not wish to tell a lie.

“I will be present at dinner,” she responded after a long pause. “I promise you.”

Laura appeared satisfied with her assurance and left without another word.

‘Am I to be hounded by her for desiring a choice in this matter?’ mused Robina, as she dropped her hand into the cool water. ‘Oh, Mama! I wish you had not died! You would not have forced me to marry against my will.’

Robina knew that she was utterly powerless.

As her father seemed uninterested in her feelings, there was really nothing she could do.

‘If I go against him, then I will risk losing his love altogether. I want to be a dutiful daughter, but how can I when that path leads to utter misery for me? If I was his son, would he be seeking to force me into marriage?’

But if she had been a son, perhaps Robina would not have had the same struggle with her stepmother for she would not have been considered as a rival for her father’s affections.

‘Such is the lot of mere women,’ she reflected and, not for the first time, she wished she had been born a boy.

Robina stayed by the fountain for some time, lost in thought.

She did not see her stepmother going out in the new brougham.

*

Later she decided to write to Hortense Lamont.

She went up to her bedroom, pulled out a sheet of paper from the drawer and began to write in French.

In the letter she asked if she could come and stay indefinitely should her situation not improve.

‘There, it is done! If necessary I will voluntarily remove myself to France.

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