Sword to the Heart (Bantam Series No. 13) by Barbara Cartland Read Free Book Online

pleasant,” Natalia said gratefully.
    It was consistent, she thought, with the consideration she and her father had been shown ever since they left home, and she was glad that she was not to see His Lordship until she looked her best for him.
    ‘He thinks of everything!’ she told herself once again.
    She allowed the Maids to help her undress and enjoyed her bath which had been placed in front of a warm fire. She was aware that the bathwater was scented with roses and the soft towels with which she dried herself smelt of lavender.
    The bed-chamber was a fine room. There was a huge four-poster bed hung with embroidered curtains which Natalia learnt had been worked by the ladies who lived in the Castle during the reign of Queen Anne.
    There were French Commodes which she knew were priceless and the ceiling had a cornice of brilliantly painted heraldic devices. The carved Medieval fireplace was surmounted by a huge Coat of Arms picked out in gold.
    It was difficult to take in everything at once and Natalia was at the moment concerned only with looking her best for Lord Colwall.
    There was no need to unpack the bags that had come with her on the journey, for when the Housekeeper opened the wardrobe, it was filled with gowns of every possible material and colour.
    “These all came from London, Miss,” she explained.
    “They are lovely, very lovely!” Natalia said in awe-struck tones. “What must I wear now?”
    ‘It will soon be time for dinner, Miss. I have chosen, if it meets with your approval, a white gown trimmed with Venetian lace.”
    “You are sure that is the most becoming?” Natalia asked, a worried expression in her eyes.
    “I am sure you would look lovely in anything, Miss,” the Housekeeper replied. “But I felt that this particular gown was most suitable for this evening. There will be His Lordship and Sir James Parke to dinner besides yourself and your Reverend father.”
    Natalia smiled. It was perfect that they should be such a small party and she was sure that the reason Lord Colwall had arranged it this way was so that they could have a chance to get to know each other.
    But then the Housekeeper went on:
    “After dinner, there will be a number of people from the Estate arriving whom His Lordship will present to you. The Agent, the farm managers and some of the more important tenants.”
    “Of course I should like to meet them,” Natalia answered.
    She suppressed a feeling of regret that she would not after all be able to talk alone with her future husband.
    “Your wedding, Miss, will be exactly the same as the one which took place here in Medieval times,” the Housekeeper continued. “His Lordship discovered the details in a book. The food will be the same, the Orchestra will use the same type of instruments that were played here in the Castle hundreds of years ago.”
    She looked at Natalia’s surprised face and said:
    “His Lordship is a great one for tradition, Miss. I heard him say that he had searched through all the archives of the family history to find a previous occasion on which a marriage of an owner of the Castle had taken place here.”
    Natalia did not know why, but the idea that it was all being copied from the past and was not something planned just for her was a little depressing.
    Then she told herself she was being nonsensical.
    This is why Lord Colwall had wished her to journey to the Castle. It was unthinkable that with his vast possessions and great importance he should be married at Pooley Bridge!
    It was completely right and fitting that she should come to him, that their marriage should be traditional and would become in the years that lay ahead another item in the history of the Colwall family.
    ‘I must get His Lordship to tell me all about the previous weddings that took place here,’ Natalia thought.
    Then with a feeling almost of dismay, she found herself unable to prevent the question which she knew she should not ask.
    “Was His Lordship ... married from