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

wagging and he was submitting amicably to her caress. Lord Colwall watched them both with surprise.
    “Herald does not usually take to strangers,” he said after a moment.
    “That is true,” Sir James Parke agreed, speaking for the first time since Natalia had entered the room. “After all these years, Ranulf, he still never greets me with anything but a low growl!”
    “Natalia has always had a way with animals,” the Reverend Adolphus remarked proudly.
    He looked at the picture Natalia made with her white skirt billowing out over the hearth-rug, her bare arms around the neck of the huge mastiff, her face soft and glowing in the firelight.
    There was something like a challenge in the Vicar’s voice as he said to Lord Colwall:
    “I think Your Lordship will discover that Natalia can charm not only animals but also human beings.”
    It appeared, however, that Lord Colwall was not listening. He moved to the side of the fire-place where there was a table on which were two leather-covered boxes.
    He opened them and said in a voice of command:
    “Come here, Natalia.”
    She rose to her feet immediately and walked to where he stood. The mastiff, as if he did not wish to part from her, walked at her side.
    “I have for you,” Lord Colwall said, “the engagement ring which has been in my family since the days of Elizabeth I. It was designed by Sir Francis Colwall for one of Her Majesty’s Ladies-in - Waiting, whom he married.”
    He opened the box he held in his hand and Natalia saw a large ring, very different from anything she had expected. It consisted of a huge baroque pearl, set in gold and surrounded by rubies and diamonds.
    “It is lovely!” she exclaimed.
    “I hoped you would think so.”
    Lord Colwall held the box out to her, but for a moment she hesitated.
    She had expected him to put the ring on her finger, then as he did not do so, she slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand.
    “It fits exactly!” she said in surprise.
    “I had it altered to the measurements sent to me by your mother,” Lord Colwall explained in a matter-of-fact voice.
    Natalia stared down at the huge ring which seemed far too big for her little hand.
    It was very beautiful and very unusual but it evoked a memory of her childhood.
    She had been about ten years of age when she had looked at her mother’s engagement ring, which consisted of one very small diamond surrounded by even smaller ones.
    “The stones are not very big, Mama,” she had said with the frankness of a child.
    Her mother smiled.
    “It was all that your Papa could afford when we got engaged, but when he gave it to me and kissed my finger before he slipped it on, I felt that every stone was as big as a marble!”
    She laughed and held Natalia close in her arms as she added:
    “It is not the gift which counts, dearest, it is the love with which it is given. Always remember that!”
    Lord Colwall’s voice interrupted Natalia’s thoughts.
    “I have something else for you.”
    He opened the other box, a much larger one. There on black velvet lay a pendant which Natalia could see was intended to be worn with the ring.
    It, too, consisted of a baroque pearl—another very large one. It was suspended from the most brilliant enamel-work, also ornamented with rubies and diamonds.
    As she looked closer, she saw that the enamel represented a man on horse-back, a spear in his hand, and the huge pearl was part of the body of a dragon which he was killing.
    “He is a Knight!” she exclaimed incredulously.
    “I believe it is intended to portray one of my ancestors,” Lord Colwall explained. “The pendant was made for Lord Colwall in 1655 when he visited Venice, and every Colwall bride since then has worn it when she first receives the engagement ring.”
    “They certainly complement each other,” Sir James said. “You must show your future bride, Ranulf, the many portraits in the Castle of past Lady Colwalls wearing both these jewels.”
    Lord Colwall took the