Sweet Adventure

"An old donkey, heavily laden, came unexpectedly round a corner. Its burden was so large that Lord Lynke was forced to step from the roadway" - very, VERY sad that donkeys are treated so badly by everyone when they are loyal & loving sentient beings 💔

“It does not matter, I suppose,” Lord Lynke answered. “Say that I am English and I do not care for cruelty either to children or animals.” - yet the past time of the English aristocracy is hunting and horse racing, 2 "sports" where animal abuse and cruelty run rampant.

"And if you imagine that I am likely to marry this swarthy-skinned heiress, you are also very much mistaken.” - Cartland's continuous description of her perfect "race" is one synonymous with English beauty or what they regard as beautiful...

He felt a sudden sinking of his spirits, Spain, dark-eyed señoritas, castanets and bullfights. He hated the lot of them already.“There is a bullfight tomorrow,” Ventura replied. “I am not interested in bullfights.” “There is a fair outside the town – performing animals and clowns.” - circuses, zoos (menageries in earlier times) and bullfighting - cruelty to sentient life not human abounds from then till now.

Men are like children, Ventura. They never grow up however old they become. They long always for what they cannot get and get bored with what they have. They talk of freedom and are afraid, always, of loneliness. They crave for a home and yet say that marriage puts them in chains. They are children, just children, and more than anything they need us to be constantly in attendance on them.” - agree here. Men can be awfully childish & spoilt.

"'Miajado the Magnificent’, the most admired and acclaimed matador in all Spain.“The matadors were skilful and graceful, and Miajado himself, when he appeared to a roar of applause that seemed to shake the very roofs of the houses, was as brilliant and as daring as his reputation. But offset against this was the slaughter and damage done to the horses and Lord Lynke began to feel sick. He loved his horses more than anything else he possessed. To him horseflesh was something noble, something to be cherished and something to be respected. The poor broken old crocks in the bullring could hardly be compared with his own magnificent animals and yet they, also, were the friends of man and he felt a sudden fury for the way they were being treated. He could control himself enough to feel that it would be useless to protest and still more useless and humiliating, to make a scene. There was nothing he could do but watch the slaughter and hate the men who were responsible for it.He felt he had nothing in common with people who, beneath their gaiety, could be so cruel and so utterly brutal to an animal as noble as a horse." - there is NOTHING noble, honourable or courageous about matadors or what they do. The bulls are starved of food and water for days before they are mercilessly stabbed numerous times in the ring. Horses are also injured horribly and many die from agonizing wounds. Spain is a barbaric country where animal rights and welfare are concerned. Spain has schools that teach young children about these barbaric traditions in the hopes that the next generation will continue to carry them onwards. Let's hope that the traditions (like bullfighting) that inflict pain, suffering and torture to innocent, SENTIENT beings die off - they have no place in a society that needs to do better!