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Returning to Hartfield after her father’s death, Linda found she needed to establish new relationships with at least two members of this strong-willed, exasperating, lovable family. Luke Ferndale was all too ready to organise her life. Angus, his grandson, missed in Linda the sparkle she’d had as a child. It took a taste of gaiety and luxury, experience of independence and loneliness to make Linda sure when capitulation was no weakness but both joyful and right. |
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Returning to Hartfield after her father’s death, Linda Dawley found a certain resentment directed towards her. Certainly, old Mr Ferndale was determined to make up to her the years of unhappiness she had lost, nursing her sick father. And when he gave her the protection of his family and a chance to start a new life in the enchanting paradise of Bermuda, he felt he had achieved his aim. Surrounded by this gay and torrid atmosphere, Linda began to forget her past hardships and to realise how much she was in love with Angus, the black sheep of the family. She also became aware of the intense hostility she had aroused amongst certain relatives. Relatives who had resolved to have her disgraced and thrown out of the family. But Linda had at last found something to live for. It controlled her, caressed her and cherished her; if that, too, was taken away, then only one defeat would remain. |
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No 1019 (1973) She thought he was no true friend. But was he something more? |
No 5 (1973) As the train sped through the soft green English countryside, Linda was wondering if she had made a wise decision. The letter from her godfather, Luke Ferndale, inviting her to stay with him at Hartfield had arrived shortly after her father's death. Alone in the bleak Cornish cottage that had been their home since her mother died, Linda decided to forget the feud that had separated the two families and visit the old man. She had loved Hartfield when she was a child, and could remember long, idyllic days spent with Angus, Mr Ferndale's grandson. But times and people had changed. Angus was an aloof stranger now, who obviously pitied her for her apparent lack of spirit. And Mr Ferndale was determined to transform her into the person he imagined his goddaughter should be. New clothes, an exciting job abroad - all this showered on Linda. Bemused and grateful, she forgot her father's caution of long ago: 'Every gift you accept eats away at your independence.' She was to remember this in a different country, in different circumstances, when there was no one to turn to for help and love. |