Page 435 - lady-chatterlys-lover

ford. He replied:
I shall not welcome your sister, but I shall not deity her
the door. I have no doubt she has connived at your deser-
tion of your duties and responsibilities, so do not expect me
to show pleasure in seeing her.
They went to Wragby. Clifford was away when they ar-
rived. Mrs Bolton received them.
’Oh, your Ladyship, it isn’t the happy home-coming we
hoped for, is it!’ she said.
’Isn’t it?’ said Connie.
So this woman knew! How much did the rest of the ser-
vants know or suspect?
She entered the house, which now she hated with ev-
ery fibre in her body. The great, rambling mass of a place
seemed evil to her, just a menace over her. She was no longer
its mistress, she was its victim.
’I can’t stay long here,’ she whispered to Hilda, terrified.
And she suffered going into her own bedroom, re-enter-
ing into possession as if nothing had happened. She hated
every minute inside the Wragby walls.
They did not meet Clifford till they went down to dinner.
He was dressed, and with a black tie: rather reserved, and
very much the superior gentleman. He behaved perfectly
politely during the meal and kept a polite sort of conversa-
tion going: but it seemed all touched with insanity.
’How much do the servants know?’ asked Connie, when
the woman was out of the room.
’Of your intentions? Nothing whatsoever.’
’Mrs Bolton knows.’

Lady Chatterly’s Lover