Read 108. An Archangel Called Ivan for Free Online Page A

house where they were to dine, she was not surprised to find that she was sitting next to the heir to his family title who was as yet unmarried.
    He was a very charming and intelligent young man called Peregrine.
    “I have heard so much about you,” Peregrine said as they started dinner, “that I began to wonder if you really existed except in people’s minds.”
    Arliva smiled.
    “I know exactly what you have heard about me,” she replied, “but I don’t want you to repeat it.”
    “It was very complimentary,” he assured her.
    “I am sure it was,” she said, thinking of her father’s money. “It’s very kind of people, but strangely enough I have an urge just to be myself without any trappings.”
    To her surprise Peregrine understood what she was trying to say.
    “Forget it,” he said. “People are always envious and therefore they talk if you have more of anything than they have. You must not let it spoil you.”
    “Why should you think it would?” Arliva asked.
    “There was just a note in your voice,” he replied, “that told me only too clearly that you are tired of being called ‘the rich Miss Ashdown’.”
    Arliva smiled.
    “Right at the very first guess. Go to the top of the class!”
    “I can quite understand,” Peregrine replied, “that you find it a bore when people talk about your possessions. At the same time you know that you would be lost without them.”
    “Ignored is the right word,” Arliva parried.
    He chuckled.
    “Now you are being too modest, but I understand that the women look at you reproachfully because you have looks, wit, intelligence and, of course, riches.”
    Arliva laughed at the way he was speaking.
    Then she said,
    “You must agree it is all too much.”
    “I would be willing to change places with you,” he replied, “if it was possible. Equally don’t attach too much attention to what people say or think. Jealousy is a nasty word and people resent someone having too much.”
    “And that someone is me !” Arliva exclaimed.
    “Most people would be on their knees thanking God for having it all. Do you really think it’s important?
    “I can think of many other things that I would much prefer,” Arliva replied.
    “What are they?” he quizzed.
    She shook her head.
    “I am still looking for what I want. Just as my father went out to strange places and found things which no one had ever seen before. I think that is what I really want.”
    “But you are a woman and so it’s impossible,” he said. “If you take my advice, you will marry some nice fellow who falls madly in love with you, settle down and have a large family and forget that you can pay the bills.”
    “Unfortunately no one else forgets it,” she pointed out, “and that is what I mind.”
    “I can understand in a way,” Peregrine said, “but I assure you that it is far worse when you cannot pay them and very frustrating.”
    She remembered as he spoke that at one time he had been a penniless young man and he had not been able to go into the Regiment he wanted simply because it was too expensive.
    Then his Godfather had left Peregrine a large sum of money because he had no children and so he had known what it was to be poor.
    Naturally he was now enjoying being rich.
    In a low voice Arliva enquired,
    “Are you telling me that the years when you had no money taught you nothing and you merely hated them?”
    “I hated not being able to do what I wanted,” he answered. “Then when I realised that the gates had opened and everything was possible, I was extremely grateful. In a way the long years of feeling frustrated and neglected were worthwhile as they made me appreciate, as I never would have been able to do, all that I now have.”
    Arliva smiled.
    “That is the right way to look at it, but how do you cope with the people who would have taken no notice of you in the past but now kowtow at your feet?”
    “It’s not as bad as all that,” he replied, “but quite frankly I forget