Rivals for Love Read Free

Revolution.”
    â€œI think you will find,” replied Lady Violet crisply “that there are a great number of other places that are too dangerous for casual visitors. Therefore your journey around the world will be quite a short one!”
    â€œIt will be better than nothing,” came back Elva.
    Before Lady Violet could think of any response, Beecham entered with tea and arranged a table in front of the sofa where Lady Violet was sitting.
    A footman wearing the Earl of Chartham’s livery bought in a silver tray. On it was the kettle, the teapot, the cream jug and the sugar bowl. Another footman carried in cakes, hot buttered toast in a silver container and a plate of cucumber sandwiches. When it was all laid out, it looked very inviting.
    Lady Violet was wondering what she should tell her niece about the rigors of travelling, as for her it very often meant sleeping in extremely uncomfortable beds and eating indifferent food served by untrained and sometimes not too clean servants.
    Then she thought it was no use arguing any further with Elva as doubtless her father would have a great deal to say to her when he came home. Perhaps if she lived alone in the country until he returned she would find that rather boring as well.
    Elva had been educated by governesses and tutors and at times she had other girls of her own age to share her lessons. The Earl had insisted that she was taught foreign languages as he had been when he was a boy.
    It was a peculiarity of the Chartham family down the ages that they should speak foreign languages and travel extensively around the world – something which had stood Lady Violet in good stead when she married a diplomat.
    She could appreciate, although she considered it would be a mistake to say so, that Elva’s present feelings were based on heredity.
    Her tutors had instructed her in French, German and Spanish and a little Russian, so it was only natural under the circumstances that Elva should desire to travel abroad.
    However it was most unfortunate that she should make a scene only a month after becoming a debutante . After all, she was being chaperoned in London by one of the more distinguished members of the family.
    Lady Violet looked back to when she was the same age and recognised that she too might easily have felt the same as Elva, but she had been fortunate enough only a month after beginning to enjoy the Season to have met Edward Grange.
    They had not been allowed to marry at once in case they changed their minds. It was only when the autumn had come and the family was still urging them to remain patient that they threatened to run away.
    Rather than be embarrassed by a scandal, which this would undoubtedly have caused, they were allowed to marry.
    Lady Violet could indeed remember all too clearly her ecstasy as they had been driven away from their huge wedding reception.
    All that she and Edward had wanted was to be alone, preferably in some foreign country where no one could interrupt them, and everything had been perfect for her.
    But Elva had not fallen in love.
    In fact she had been most scornful of every young gentleman she had encountered, nor had she appreciated the compliments she had received from those who found her beauty irresistible.
    She was just as lovely, Lady Violet decided, as her mother had been and it was rather an unusual loveliness which made her stand out amongst other girls of her own age.
    She was very slim owing to the amount of exercise she took. Her hair was golden and yet it contained some of the exquisite fiery lights which had been such joy for Italian artists.
    Elva boasted the perfectly clear pink and white complexion of an English rose. Her eyes were the dark blue of the Mediterranean with a sparkle that men found irresistibly attractive.
    It was thus not surprising that she was so much admired and Lady Violet was very proud of the success of her niece.
    But it had never occurred to anyone that Elva was not enjoying