I have sighed for this; I have longed for this;
I have prayed for this. To meet some one who would speak to me of my
father; who had heard of him, who knew him; has been for years the
only thought of my being, the only object for which I existed. And
now, here comes Plantagenet, my brother! my own brother! and he knows
all, and he will tell me; yes, that he will; he will tell his Venetia
all, all!'
'Is there not your mother?' said Lord Cadurcis, in a broken tone.
'Forbidden, utterly forbidden. If I speak, they tell me her heart will
break; and therefore mine is breaking.'
'Have you no friend?'
'Are not you my friend?'
'Doctor Masham?'
'I have applied to him; he tells me that he lives, and then he shakes
his head.'
'You never saw your father; think not of him.'
'Not think of him!' exclaimed Venetia, with extraordinary energy. 'Of
what else? For what do I live but to think of him? What object have I
in life but to see him? I have seen him, once.'
'Ah!'
'I know his form by heart, and yet it was but a shade. Oh, what a
shade! what a glorious, what an immortal shade! If gods were upon
earth they would be like my father!'
'His deeds, at least, are not godlike,' observed Lord Cadurcis dryly,
and with some bitterness.
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