Venetia Part V

Venetia feels very confused and depressed as she sets off for London. She has never travelled so far, and finds the journey exhausting. When she gets to the city, she meets her aunt, whom she does not know well, who is a silly, but good natured woman. Mrs Hendred takes her in and takes her out to buy clothes and Venetia begins to socialise. Mrs Hendred has a large family but she is not always fussing over her children. She can see that Venetia is so beautiful she will surely find a husband soon. But Venetia though she tries to enjoy her new life, is depressed and missing Damerel. She has a few admirers, but she finds herself unable to settle and starts to look for a house for herself, hoping that if she is busy with keeping house, she may get over her love affair. After a few weeks, Edward comes to town. He has been ill and says that he decided to consult a London doctor and have a little holiday.. but Venetia feels sure that he has mainly come to see her, and find out if she has any new suitors. She still finds him boring and irritating, but he invites her and her aunt to the theatre. Mrs Hendred tells her that she should marry Edward- he is a good man and she lets slip that she knew that Damerel was paying attention to Venetia and that was why Mr Hendred went to Yorkshire to bring her to London. Venetia hopes that this means Damerel is in love with her and she has some hope of getting him back. They attend the theatre.. and Mrs Hendred is rather bored but puts up with it, and then Venetia sees a woman at a box opposite her, a beautiful middle aged woman, who seems to be smiling at her. She tells her aunt that she has an odd feeling that the woman is her mother.. but that cant be when she died years ago. Mrs Hendred horrified looks and instantly claims to be ill so they have to leave the theatre. When they get home, Edward and Mrs Hendred tell Venetia that it was her mother - that she was not dead, but her father had divorced her 15 years earlier. Venetia is shocked, and learns that her mother had more than 1 affair, and in the end, Sir Francis got a divorce and she married her lover, Sir Lambert Steeple and they went abroad to live.