144. Music From Heaven

The beautiful Martina Bradshaw has sadly lost both her beloved father and her loving mother. They live in the little Kent village of Preston Bailey where her father, a talented musician, had written his music, which had never been successful with the public. Now Martina has to find a way of making money to pay her household of Mrs. Amos the cook and Lily the housemaid, although a near neighbour, Sir Alexander Palmer, has bought many of her father’s music memorabilia that she has no use for and is now showing a keen interest in Martina’s welfare. Another neighbour, the handsome Earl of Westfield, has a ten year old half-sister, Lady Anne, who is a difficult child and has been impossible to teach music to. So the Earl engages Martina to teach Lady Anne and she soon gains her trust. In the meantime one of her mother’s old friends, Mrs. Elizabeth Carrington, invites her to a party in London and she unexpectedly meets the Earl at the Station and he drives her in his carriage to her destination. Later she plays her father’s tunes on a piano at the party and a music publisher promises to issue them. When the Country Fair comes to Preston Bailey, everyone in the neighbourhood is drawn to the spectacle including the Earl and Lady Anne. It is a happy day, although trouble is brewing for Martina. How Lady Anne goes missing in a dreadful stormy night and is found in the Earl’s maze by Martina, only to lose her again. How Lady Anne is rescued from a raging river and Sir Alexander Palmer’s true intent towards Martina is revealed. And how Martina and the Earl find the love they have both been seeking is told in this fast-moving romance by BARBARA CARTLAND.