Part 10 (2/2)

”I think she meant,” Astara explained, ”that in every-thing he struggled to achieve he would finally be victorious.”

''It is a pity that the G.o.ddess what did you say her name was? is not here now. She might have cast a magic spell on me so that I could win you. ”

”If you did I wonder if you would not find me somewhat of an enc.u.mbrance? ” Astara suggested. ”Soldiers are best when they are free.”

”What makes you think that?”

”Well, supposing you were sent with your Regiment to some outlandish place? A wife and family would be restricting if nothing else.”

”What you are saying is that I should have to make up my mind whether to leave you behind or subject you to the discomforts that most soldiers' wives have to endure.”

Before Astara could reply he went on: ”One lucky thing is that it is extremely unlikely that the Life Guards would ever be sent to India or anywhere like that. I often have the feeling that we are more decorative than anything else.”

”Your Regiment did very well at Waterloo, and it was there, I understand, that you were decorated.”

”It was very exciting!” Lionel said and his eyes lit up. ”I do not think I have ever been so thrilled by anything.”

He saw that Astara was listening and after a moment he went on.

”Afterwards everyone talked about the slaughter, the horror, the men who died, and of course the Charge of the Scots Greys, but I like to remember the exhilaration I felt!”

There was a note of it in his voice and as Astara smiled he said: ”Perhaps because I was so young it never for a moment crossed my mind that we would not be victorious, but then who could fail not to believe in Wellington? ”

The way he spoke, with a kind of hero-wors.h.i.+p in his words and on his face, told Astara that that was really where his love lay with his Regiment, the men he commanded and the General who commanded him.

She had the feeling, although she would not have said it aloud, that Lionel's wife would always take second place in his life and that he was really dedicated not to love but to war.

William put a stop to their conversation by deliberately rising from the fireplace and walking to the table.

”You do not seem to have got very far with your lesson, ” he said in a disagreeable tone.

”We were talking,” Lionel replied defiantly.

”So I noticed,” William said. ”If it is a matter of conversation, then I should like to join in.”

He pulled up a chair to seat himself at the table, but Astara rose.

”I am sure you are all tired after attending the Horse Fair,” she said, ”so I shall-say good-night to you both and to Uncle Roderick and retire to bed. ”

”No, do not leave us!” William said sharply, and she felt it was more of a command than a request.

She did not answer him but moved to Sir Roderick's side. He looked up at her before he rose to his feet and she thought there was a question in his eyes.

She knew that with his sharp intelligence and perception where she was concerned, he would be aware that this evening she had received two proposals of marriage.

”Good-night, dear Uncle Roderick.”

”Good-night, my dearest,” he answered. ”Sleep well and pleasant dreams.”

”If I dream,” Astara answered, ”I hope it will be of the things which you and I have still to do together. You know that many of our plans are still incomplete.”

For a moment there was a rueful expression on his face and she knew he was aware that she had refused, or at least had not accepted both of his nephews.

Then as he kissed her cheek he quoted softly: ”Uncertain, coy, and hard to please!”

”That,” Astara said firmly, ”is one of the great advantages of being a woman.”

She saw the twinkle come back into his eyes, then curtseyed gracefully to William and Lionel and left them alone in the Salon.

She found it impossible, however, to go to sleep at once.

Instead she lay thinking over the strange events of the day and her visit to Vulcan Worfield. The persistent question in her mind was how she could see him again.

She wanted to do so, there was no doubt about that. She found him intriguing and quite different from anything she had expected.

Who could have guessed for one moment that, while his relatives disparaged him for wandering aimlessly over the world, he was writing a book and painting pictures that she felt in their originality would arouse an almost violent controversy?

Because of her father she had a great respect for the a.s.sociation for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa.

Her father had spoken of it enthusiastically and she knew that it was a deliberate attempt to make the remote parts of the world more familiar to those who might never be able to travel except in their minds.

It was something her mother had said when she had begged her father to write down his experiences so that other people could enjoy them.

”Perhaps Astara will do that when she is older,” he had replied.

”Why not?” her mother said. ”At the same time I feel that the type of intellectual who will listen to you would never listen to a woman. ”

Now Vulcan was doing what her father had failed to do, and Astara knew that she would never rest until she had read his book and seen the rest of his pictures.

She was still undecided the following day as to how she could escape to Little Milden.

They all rode in the morning, then there was a luncheon party for the neighbours who had discovered that Sir Roderick was in residence. They had hurriedly called to inundate both him and Astara with invitations.

Sir Roderick however had avoided their hospitality by offering his own, and when they sat down twenty to luncheon Astara could see with amus.e.m.e.nt the expression of awe on the faces of the guests when they looked at him.

She had said to him once in Paris: ”You have an aura of gold about your head and to most people it is a sacred emblem.”

He had laughed, but she knew he accepted that his wealth won for him a respect and almost a reverence wherever he might be.

After luncheon the guests wished to see the house and when at last they departed reluctantly the afternoon had almost gone.

”Let us go into the garden,” William suggested to Astara.

She shook her head and when Sir Roderick joined them she said: ”You will think it tiresome of me, but I have a slight headache. I would like, if you do not need me to do anything for you, to lie down until dinner-time.”

”Of course, my dear, Sir Roderick agreed.

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