In the Arms of Love (eBook)

Barbara Cartland (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018 | 1. Auflage
298 Seiten
Barbara Cartland eBooks Ltd (Verlag)
978-1-78867-087-6 (ISBN)

Infos

Beautiful young Aspasia Stanton and her twin brother Jerry are horrified when they receive a letter addressed to their uncle and guardian, the much-loved Reverend Theophilus Stanton from Her Grace the Duchess of Grimstone. In it she coldly announces that that having 'reached the age of sixty-five, you are retired from your living and you will vacate the Vicarage within a month of this date'. Whatever are they do do? Without the Reverend's stipend they have nothing at all to live on - And what of Little Medlock's parishioners, who love their Vicar so dearly? Although the Duchess is notoriously a completely ruthless woman without a heart, Aspasia resolves to go to visit her and throw herself on her mercy, saying 'I will do - anything you ask of me if Uncle Theophilus may remain at Little Medlock.' The poor innocent has no grasp of the evil that goes on behind Grimstone's doors or of the terrible things that the wicked Duchess will demand of her. But the Fate sends the imperious, yet handsome, Marquis of Thame to visit the Duchess - a gentleman unimpressed and undaunted by her disreputable and wicked ways. But will he step in to save Aspasia from humiliation and dishonour?

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages. As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world. She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.

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Beautiful young Aspasia Stanton and her twin brother Jerry are horrified when they receive a letter addressed to their uncle and Guardian, the much-loved Reverend Theophilus Stanton, from Her Grace the Duchess of Grimstone. In it she coldly announces that that having reached the age of sixty-five, you are retired from your Living and you will vacate the Vicarage within a month of this date. Whatever are they to do? Without the Reverend s stipend they will have nothing at all to live on and Jerry will be forced to leave Oxford University. And what of Little Medlock s parishioners, who love their Vicar so dearly after all his years in their Parish? Although the Duchess is known by all the locals as a completely ruthless woman without a heart, Aspasia resolves to go to visit her and throw herself on her mercy, saying, I will do anything you ask of me if Uncle Theophilus may remain at Little Medlock. The poor innocent Aspasia has no grasp of the evil that goes on behind Grimstone House s imposing doors or of the terrible things that the wicked Duchess will demand of her as her side of the bargain.But then Fate sends the imperious yet handsome Marquis of Thame to visit the Duchess, a gentleman unimpressed and undaunted by her disreputable and wicked ways. But will he step in to save Aspasia from utter humiliation and dishonour?

Textauszug

CHAPTER TWO

When Aspasia had left Jerry and was riding through the woods alone she began to feel nervous.

Because she was so determined to get her own way and try to persuade the Duchess to be merciful, she had not told her brother of her fears and had tried to keep him from realising that she was in fact very frightened.

However, because as twins they were so closely attuned to each other, Jerry, although he was not in other respects very perceptive, said when they had pulled their horses to a standstill outside the wood,

“Change your mind, dearest. I know it is a mistake for you to walk into the lion’s den. We will manage somehow.”

“On what?” Aspasia enquired.

There was silence and she knew that even Jerry, who was always carefree and optimistic, was thinking how very little money they had left and that without their uncle’s stipend it would be impossible for them to live without some other source of income.

“All right, have it your own way,” he accepted, “but promise me that when you have talked to the Duchess you will come home immediately.”

“I certainly will,” Aspasia promised, “but don’t wait. As I have already said, she might decide to send a groom with me.”

“I will go back to the Vicarage and wait. But you know that I will be worrying about you.”

“I doubt it,” Aspasia smiled. “I have never known you worry about anything particularly.”

They both laughed.

Aspasia had spoken the truth when she said that Jerry never worried. It was because he took life as it came and made the best of whatever situation he found himself in.

It was a gift that she wished she had herself, for like her mother she worried about many things, especially lately, wondering what the future would be when the money that they had been living on and which had paid so far for Jerry to go to Oxford came to an end.

At any other time Aspasia knew that she would have enjoyed riding through unfamiliar woods and knowing that the sun shining through the fir trees making a pattern of gold on the mossy ground was very beautiful.

She followed a small twisting path that wound between the trees until suddenly the wood came to an end and in front of her was Grimstone House.

She had never seen it before. Although the descriptions that other people had made her of it had given her some idea of what it was like, it was far more magnificent and far more imposing than she had expected.

It was very old, having been built by the family long before they were made Dukes and added to by every succeeding generation.

Standing on high ground with green parkland in front of it where there were herds of spotted deer it looked to Aspasia like something out of one of her dreams.

Slowly she rode on, thinking that it would be impossible for anybody to be really bad or wicked if they lived in such beautiful surroundings and trying to convince herself that the stories she had heard about the Duchess were baseless.

As she had said to Jerry, she was sure that the cruel actions that were carried out in the Duchess’s name on the estate were performed without her knowledge and that her Agent, a man called Bollard, was entirely responsible for them.

She reached the main drive that cut through the Park and led directly to the house and, as she rode on, Aspasia felt her heart beating in a frightened manner. She knew only too well that Jerry’s future depended on the outcome of this visit to the Duchess.

‘Perhaps she will not see me,’ she mused nervously.

Then, because there was nothing else that she could do, she began to pray to God, as she believed her uncle would pray if he knew what she was doing.

Then she spoke to her mother,

‘Help me, Mama! Help me!’ she breathed in the depths of her heart. ‘Wherever you are I know that you will still be loving Jerry and me and at this moment we need your help desperately.’

She was still praying when she reached the front door.

There were a number of grey stone steps leading up to it and she sat for a moment looking round a little helplessly, wondering how she could leave her horse and reach the door.

Just then a groom came running from the side of the house and, as he went to her horse’s head, she smiled at him and said,

“Thank you, but will you wait a moment before you take my horse to the stables? I have no appointment and perhaps Her Grace will be unable to see me.”

The groom was young, but he looked at Aspasia with admiration as he touched his forehead and replied,

“I’ll wait, ma’am.”

She slipped from the saddle onto the ground and walked up the steps, but before she could look for a bell or raise the knocker the door opened.

At the first glance she saw that there were three footmen in attendance in a Great Hall with a marble floor, Ionic pillars and exquisitely executed paintings on the walls.

Aspasia walked forward another step and was just wondering whether she should speak to the footmen when an elderly butler appeared and came towards her.

“Good morning, madam,” he greeted her in a respectful tone that also implied a question.

“If it is possible,” Aspasia said in a voice that she felt was commendably calm, “I wish to see Her Grace – the Duchess.”

“Her Grace is not expecting you, madam?”

“No, but would you please inform Her Grace that – it is of the utmost importance.”

“If you will come this way, madam,” the butler suggested, “I will enquire if Her Grace is available.”

He walked ahead of Aspasia who followed him through the Great Hall until he opened a door and she was shown into what she thought must be an anteroom.

It seemed large and impressive to her, but she guessed that the main rooms in the house would be larger still.

“May I enquire your name, madam?” the butler asked politely.

“Miss Aspasia Stanton.”

The man bowed and left the room and Aspasia stood looking around her.

She had never seen such impressive furnishings or such magnificent pictures before and she stared at them with interest recognising many of the artists from the lessons that her mother had arranged for her to have on art, a subject that she told Aspasia every educated person should be knowledgeable about.

“Although I shall never see such beautiful pictures myself,” Aspasia had said once, “at least I can dream about them and imagine what they look like.”

“Nobody can prevent us from dreaming,” her mother had replied.

But while her lips had smiled there had been an inexpressible pain in her eyes that Aspasia understood.

As she looked eagerly about her, she realised she must tell Jerry that she had actually seen a Rubens.

Then on the other side of the room she saw a Poussin and wondered how she could explain to him how beautiful it was and how impossible to imagine unless one actually saw it.

She had time to look at only two more pictures before the door opened and the butler came back into the room.

For the moment Aspasia felt that her heart had stopped beating.

If he reported that the Duchess would not see her, there was nothing she could do but go away.

“Will you come this way, madam?” he said. “Her Grace will give you a few minutes of her time, but you will appreciate that you are very fortunate to be given an audience at such short notice.”

“Yes, indeed, and I am – very grateful,” Aspasia said humbly.

She had the feeling that the butler was repeating what he had been told to say, but she was too grateful to be in any way critical.

At least she had a chance of putting her case in front of the Duchess and she must concentrate on her uncle and what it would mean to him to be turned away from his beloved Parish.

The butler led the way down a broad corridor where again there were a number of pictures that Aspasia longed to look at and beneath them five pieces of furniture, some of which she was sure were French and had been made in the Louis XIV period.

Another door lay ahead of them and outside stood two footmen on duty. As they threw open the door, the butler announced in a voice that sounded like a fanfare of trumpets,

“Miss Aspasia Stanton, Your Grace.”

For a moment because she was nervous everything seemed to swim in front of Aspasia’s eyes.

Then she saw that she was in a large room with the sunshine coming in through diamond-paned windows that reached high up the walls.

It flashed through her mind that this must be a very old part of the house.

Then she could think of nothing but the woman she had come to see.

The Duchess was standing in front of an ornately carved fireplace and she was taller than Aspasia had expected and very much more impressive.

Dressed in the latest fashion, which was very much more elaborate than anything that had reached Little Medlock, she was wearing several strings of huge pearls, diamonds in her ears and around her wrists and a number of rings on her long thin fingers.

It was then that Aspasia looked at her face and found it impossible to look away.

Never had she imagined that any woman could look so beautiful and at the same time so evil.

She could not explain to herself exactly why she knew that the woman facing her was as wicked as she was reputed to be.

But the vibrations that came from her were so positive that Aspasia felt something within herself recoil as if they had struck her physically.

Then, as she moved slowly towards the Duchess, she could not help admitting that, though in some way she looked old, she was still beautiful.

Her hair might once have been...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 31.8.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Historische Romane
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• ISBN-10: 1-78867-087-6 / 1788670876
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78867-087-6 / 9781788670876