The Primrose Bride Read Online Free

her skin and knives stabbing at her head. Then the doctor added, “ Just bear in mind that Andrew and his wife have known each other from childhood—her childhood, anyway—she ’ s not more than twenty-one or two. The fact that he sought her out means that he has some feeling for her. It doesn ’ t really matter if it ’ s not as strong as the feeling he had for Miss Mar ch ant. In time, they will grow together as Andrew and that high-spirited creature could never have done; they ’ re both too strong-willed. Let me warn you, Tony. Take things as they are. Andrew ’ s marriage is his concern, and his wife ’ s. We both know him well enough to be sure he ’ ll be loyal to her and that from now on Camilla Marchant will cease to exist for him. ”
    “ I don ’ t care for Camilla, but I ’ d have admired him more if he ’ d married her. To use another woman as a step towards a governorship ... ” He broke off, and must have moved away, for his voice came only faintly as he said, ‘ Tell Molly to keep the whisky; I ’ d have done anything to lose that bet. And if that girl who ’ s married Andrew is genuine, I hope I’ll have very little to do with her. Goodnight ”
    Karen ’ s eyes were closed, her hands clench ed and sweating. A shining pallor sharpened her features and the small lamplight cast shadows over her eyelids and across her upper lip. She looked and felt as if she had received a mortal blow.
    Everything was shatteringly clear now. Those daily jaunts with Andrew, the care with which he had made sure to see her in almost every type of setting, the driving and riding lessons, the dancing, the talks about music and literature. He knew her aunts had carefully supervised her educations, that they had done their best to keep her in the Welhayes circle, that they themselves were well bred, even if they did run the pottery workshop and argue with wholesalers. Karen ’ s background was the small Cornish town from which he himself had sprung; her companions were friends of his family and therefore she was socially almost his equal. Not quite—which was a help rather than otherwise; it strengthened his influence.
    How very fortunate for him that the “ Karen child ” should fall in love with him. She would be so anxious to p lease him that training her would be no trouble at all; h e didn ’ t care for gratitude, but it might easily be bearable if it took the form of obedience and graciousness, for his sake.
    He hadn ’ t mentioned that there was an immediate chance of his promotion to high office. He had weighed her up and decided it might put her off ... as it would have. Karen didn ’ t want position and power; she wanted to love and be loved, to have children and watch them grow, to be the center of a happy home. Her needs were as simple as that, yet she had chosen to fall in love with a man who would never give her even the least of them; a man, moreover, who had spent what love was in him on some woman whom he had decided to give up rather than take the chance that as his wife she might jeopardize his future.
    It couldn ’ t be true! Andrew was considerate and kind, he teased and bantered, gently commanded and took possession. He had assured Aunt Laura that he would care for Karen for ever, that they would come back to Welhayes for long leaves, that some day he and Karen would settle there. And yet ... hadn ’ t he always kept something in reserve? Some part of himself? He hadn ’ t asked her to marry him, hadn ’ t led up to a climax with caresses or even in talk. He had simply looked her over for three weeks, gone away to think things out and come back when his decision was made. Karen would do; it was easy to be kind and affectionate towards her because she loved him, she had the bare essentials and his own grooming of her would accomplish the rest.
    And what now? she thought despairingly. She had to go home with him, start some sort of life which would never have meaning. And she wouldn ’