Queen Lear [antikvár]

m h was first love - there had been no time for c/ earlier romance because Nicandra was only eight on April 8th, 1904. She had been christened Nicandra on the insistence of her father who, in his luckier years, had bred and trained and ridden an outstanding winner of that name. He very much objected to the inevitable contraction of Nicandra to Nico, which seemed to him common. Perpetually subdued by the rigours of behaviour, and almost unable to express himself outside the vernaculars of Hunting, Racing, Shooting, Fishing and Cricket, he had never been able to make his case against Nico: "Awful, awfuV was the best he could do. It was to her mother that Nicandra clung spellbound in loving (she was bom to trouble) since life began. Love had found its proper expression when she became old enough to repeat little verses her governess taught her, mostly in French, or to stumble ludicrously through songs her mother sang. She almost knew her performance was good for a laugh, sometimes a kiss. She was pretty sure of the places to make her baby mistakes. Few tilings earned more pleasant congratulation than abstinence: "No thank you," to a second chocolate, and Maman's face lighted gentiy as she snapped the lid back on the choc box before Nicandra could change her mind. Her mother's hands were very important - a distant importance for they scarcely ever touched her (old Nan still did up her buttons), or she them; but she felt a longing to