Scandalous Risks Part V

Neville is frequently at odds with Charles over the cathedral; at this point he is arguing with him over putting a modern sculpture in the grounds, which Charles regards as ugly and liable to be judged obscene. Venetia begins to worry about this argument.. the 2 men have to work together but they disagree so much, that she worries that if anything got out about her friendship with him, it would completely destroy Neville's career. It is the time of the Profumo scandal and she feels that Neville is in a similar situation. Eddie Hoffenberg tells her, as this row goes on, that there are rumours going round that Neville is seeing a woman on his days off, and he tells her that he has guessed she is the woman, and that she has to break it off with him, or he will end up ruined. He reminds her that he himself cares for her and he cares for Neville too, and that if she broke up with Neville, he wants to marry her and believes they get on well as friends and would be happy. Venetia tells Eddie that she cant do it, then says that she will finish with him, but she finds it impossible. She becomes ill with strain and ends up collapsing in Charles' house when she is working for him. Lyle looks after her but Venetia can't bring herself to talk about the affair. Lyle tells everyone she has flu, and after a couple of days, she gets visitors, Eddie, Charles and to her horror Neville. Venetia chats to them briefly, and hopes that she has not betrayed herself, but as they are leaving, she says goodbye to Neville, calling him by his name, Neville, rather than his title or the name that DIdo has given him, Stephen. She realises that now she has given herself away, and collapses again. Lyle consoles her and tells her that they all knew there was a relationship, and that Charles as a senior cleric was trying to find some way of handling the whole mess without causing an open scandal. Lyle has never liked Neville since her own brief attraction to him, years ago, during the war and she now foolishly tells Venetia that when she has recovered, Neville will be all right, and that she should marry Eddie who loves her and is a good man. Venetia does not know if she cares that much for Eddie, but she does tend to listen to Lyle, and she also believes that Neville wont accept that their affair is over, unless she takes some radical action like finding another man. She knows that he cares deeply for her and that he is a stubborn man. So she agrees to marry Eddie and then writes to Neville to say that their relationship must end and she's marrying Eddie. He tells her that though he is fond of Eddie, he believes that his melancholy personality would make for a bad marriage, but then, he accepts the inevitable and goes for counsellng to get back on track. Lyle remarks that he should resign his office in Starbridge, but that he wont do that, and he does stay there... Venetia gets married to Eddie but their marriage is a mess. She does not care much for him or find him attractive and though they go to London to live, things dont work out. Venetia is not faithful... like most of her set, she takes part in the wild antics of the Swinging Sixties, and when they have a daughter she is not sure who the father is, but Eddie believes that it is his. Eddie dies young, and Venetia, now a widow, takes to drinking and sleeping around, and does not spend much time with her daughter. In the 1970s, she receives a letter from Neville, who is now elderly and retired asking if he could visit her when he's makng a trip to Norfolk. He has had a stroke and is very frail but when he comes to her house, she can see that he came because he had always loved her and wanted to see her before he dies. And she knows that she never stopped loving him and that perhaps they would have been happy had they been free to marry and closer in age. After his death, she goes on drinking and leading an aimless life, but some years later, she meets Nick Darrow, and tells him about the affair with Neville and turns to him for counselling. She becomes interested in theology and goes to college. She finally begins to live the life she wanted to lead.....