As usual, she asked, in her flat, disinterested voice, if there were any other jobs to do and when Venetia gave her permission to go she slapped out in her big felt slippers and pulled the door shut.Venetia had no plans for passing the hours. Thea had suggested a morning with the off-duty nurses at the swimming-pool or a tour of the public library and town gardens, but neither diversion appealed very strongly.This time tomorrow she would be packing her bag in readiness to be carried back to Bondolo, where Blake would resume his duties of protecting and providing for her. It had been bad enough before; now it promised to be stark anguish. She didn’t want to be protected and provided for. During their parting she had realized that she wanted to be loved, to thrill to the exciting strains of life’s music, to exist in an enchanted realm, if but for awhile. Yet Neil’s revelation had thrust her farther than ever from such a realization.She was kneeling at the bookshelves when the doorbell let out its insistent, high-pitched summons.
