CHAPTER EIGHTThey stepped down from the train onto a red carpet, where a man wearing a coat covered in gilt braid was waiting for them. He introduced himself as the Honourable Charles Edmonds and in a loud voice, welcomed them on behalf of the Viceroy.
The Earl made the necessary responses, after which the young man led them to the carriage that was waiting to take them to Raj Bhavan, the Viceregal mansion.
It was not a long journey. They travelled through streets lined with people who cheered and waved when they saw the Royal crest on the sides of the carriages.
The Earl acknowledged the cheers and suggested that Venetia did the same. She waved and smiled, feeling very strange. Inside herself she was still ordinary Venetia Baydon, living in a backwater, known to nobody.
But in fact sh
