Persuasion IV

Although she is a little flattered by the admiration of William Elliot and Benwick, she still loves Wentworth. She also meets an old schoolfriend in Bath, Mrs Smith who is an invalid and confined to bed, much of the time. Sir Walter dislikes her friendship with the lady, but he himself has become engaged in a flirtation with Mrs Clay, a widow of modest means, who has become a hanger on of Elizabeth's. Anne though much less snobbish than her sister,is uneasy about the relationship as she thinks that Mrs Clay is flirting with Sir Walter to lure him into marriage and that she has fawned on Elizabeth for the same mercenary reasons. Anne goes to Lyme Regis with the Musgrove family, and with Wentworth, for a visit and Louisa flirts with Wentworth, getting him to help her to jump across stiles and stones. She jumps from a wall by the sea front and falls hurting her head. Wentworth is shaken and does not know what to do and the Musgroves are not much help. Anne takes charge and has Louisa carried to the Harvilles' house nearby, where he lives wiht his family and his late sister's fiance. Wentworth is impressed by how well Anne manages the care of Louisa.

Persuasion Part III

Anne is sorry to leave Mary's place to go to Bath as she finds her father and older sister are as snobbish and cold as ever to her. Henrietta, the younger of the 2 Musgrove girls becomes formally engaged to her cousin, Charles Hayter who has just been ordained clergyman and has found a living nearby. Henrietta has been briefly infatuated with Wentworth but she is happy to be marrying Hayter who is heir to a small estate but was not able to marry till he got the living. Anne tries to make the best of her new life in Bath but she is lonely iwht her snobbish sister and father. She is pleased when Lady Russell comes to stay there and the whole family are pleased when they meet with William Elliot, their cousin, who is heir to Sir Walter's estate. He fell out with the family some years earlier, and he married a rich woman who has now died. But he has decided to try and make up with Sir Walter and Elizabeth and she has some hopes that he might consider marrying her, as he had paid court to her some years before. Anne is ambivalent about William. She wonders why he has now chosen to make up the quarrel and she finds him a little too snobbish for her tastes though he is pleasant and entertaining, and he seems to find her attractive. She has also met some of the Crofts' sailor friends who live nearby at Lyme Regis. Captain Harville is a married man with a family, who has not made a large fortune during the war... Another friend is James Benwick, who was engaged to Harville's sister but who lost her when she died a while earlier. Anne likes the sailor who are intelligent and pleasant and she is happy to socialise with them.

Persuasion Part II

Anne is depressed when her father decides to settle in Bath because it is cheaper, she dislikes the city. She then receives some more bad news. Mr Shepherd their lawyer, has found a tenant, who is an admiral in the Navy. He is a married man with no children, and Anne then learns that his wife is the sister of Captain Wentworth, who 7 years earlier had been visiting Kellynch and fell in love with her. However, their short lived romance ended because Wentworth was starting out in his career and had no money, and Anne felt that it would be wrong to tie him to an engagement. Lady Russell had not liked Wentworth..believing that he was arrogant and pushy, and not liking the idea of her beloved young friend having to wait for years till he made his fortune. She is planning to stay for a while with her sister Mary before moving to Bath and she's afraid now of meeting Wentworth. She meets the Crofts, his sister and brother in law and finds them good decent people who have spent much of their lives at sea, and likes them. But Wentworth is cool with her and she fears that he will never forgive her for breaking their engagement so long ago. Anne stays with Mary and her husband Charles, who is a nice good natured man, and who once asked her to marry him. She refused but she gets on with him. Wentworth is part of tehir new social circle and he seems to be taken up with Charles' two sisters, Louisa and Henrietta, who are young and pretty and who admire the gallant sailor. Anne is a little hurt that he seems to have become cold towards her....

Persuasion

This is Austen's last novel which was not published until after her death. She was in failing health during the writing of it, and it is rather shorter than her other works. It is a more emotional story thn the other ones, and her heroine is several years older than the heroines of earlier books. Anne Elliot is 27 and has lost her good looks to an extent. Anne is one of three sisters, her father is a middle aged widower who is extravagant and snobbish, and his eldest daughter Elizabeth is like him. The other sister, Mary has married but is not very clever and something of a hypochondriac. Anne is not much loved by most of her family, who dont appreciate her intelligence or kindly nature. She has a good friend in Lady Russell who lives nearby and was her mother's close friend. Lady Russell is a kindly intelligent woman, though she is also rather snobbish and Anne depends on her a good deal. However Sir Walter, her father has gotten into debt and the family lawyer advises them that they are going to have to let out their home Kellynch Hall and find a cheaper place to live.

Sense and Sensibility Part VI

As Marianne recovers, she accepts that Willoughby never loved her in a true sense and that he behaved very badly. Then Elinor hears from one of their servants that he met Mrs Ferrar that morning, that she and Edward had just been married. Elinor is very upset that he is now married but before long, Edward himself arrives at Barton Cottage and explains to her that it was not he who has just married Lucy, it is his brother Robert. Old Mrs Ferrars made over an estate to Robert, when Edward refused to desert Lucy, and now Lucy has managed to inveigle him into a proposal. Robert is not very likable, like his mother and sister.... but his marriage sets Edward free. He then asks Elinor to marry him and she agrees once they have enough to live on. Marianne having lost Willoughby can now see the good side of Col Brandon, and after Elinor and Edward get married, she accepts him and becomes his wife. Robert and Lucy have a bit of a cat and dog marriage but get on all right.

Sense and Sensibility V

Elinor is terrified that Marianne is dying, she has developed a fever and seems to be close to death. But she come out of her coma and Elinor is relieved. Elinor is then surprised to find Willoughby has arrived at Cleveland. He has driven all the way from London without a break, and is clearly distraught, having heard that she is very ill. He tells ELinor that he loved Marianne, but he had financial problems and could not see his way clear to marrying her. He does not love his wife. ELinor reminds him of his affair with the Colonel's ward Eliza and how that seduction will have damaged Eliza's prospects of any kind of settled life. Willoughby disparages Eliza as foolish and easily seduced, but says that he just hopes Marianne will recover fully and its unlikely that he will have a chance to be with her. Elinor still feels anger against him but also feels a little pity and believes that he did genuinely care for her sister, even if he let her down and behaved so badly. He goes back home, and Marianne begsns to recover from her fever. Meanwhile, the Dashwoods have heard that the Ferrars family have found out about Edwards secret engagement and since he has refused to give Lucy up, his mother has cast hm out. Mrs Jennings kindly offers him a place to live, and Colonel Brandon tells ELinor that there is a church living on his estate, and that he will offer it to Edward if he gets ordained, which Edward wants to do. Elinor tries to be glad for him, but she knows that Lucy is only marrying him for security.

Sense and Sensibility IV

Marianne is desperately upset by Willoughby's desertion, but tells Elinor that they were never engaged. Mrs Jennings tries to cheer her up, disliking Willoughby for deserting a girl whom he loved because he was in debt and a richer woman came along. Elinor hopes that staying in London may distract Marianne a little but she is very unhappy. Colonel Brandon visits, and then he tells Elinor that he knows things to Willougby's discredit. He was in love with a cousin, as a young man, and his father insisted that the girl married his older brother. Colonel Brandon was in the army then and was sent to India. He came home a few years later and found that his love had had an unhappy marriage and his brother had divorced her for adultery. Col Brandon found Eliza living in poverty, with her small child, and he looked after her till she died. He then took on her daughter, also Eliza, and became her guardian. To Elinor's horror, he then reveals that his ward is now 17 and he had been paying for her to live with a lady, who looked after young girls...She made friends with a girl from school, and went to stay in Bath, where she met Willoughby. He seduced her, in spite of her being a young lady, and got her pregnant. He then left her to fend for herself. Col Brandon found his foster daughter and looked after her, as she was close to her confinement. But her life is ruined, having had an illegitimate child. Soon afterwards, Marianne and Elinor go with Mrs Jennings to stay at Cleveland, the estate of Mrs Jennings' son in law, Mr Palmer. He and his wife have just had their first baby. However Marianne becomes ill, and her mother is sent for.

Sense and Sensibility III

THe Middletons have more visitors, two sisters, the Miss Steeles, who are distant relatives. They are not so likable as Mrs Jennings, and are clearly sucking up to Lady Middleton by adoring her children. Lucy, the younger of the 2 is clever and pretty, while Anne is rather stupid and plain. Lucy works up a friendship with Elinor, and then tells her that she is engaged to Edward Ferrars but it is a secret, as she is not highly born or well to do and his family will not like the match. Elinor feels unhappy, she loved Edward and beleived that alhtough they had not spoken about love, he was falling in love with her. She can see that Lucy is an adventuress, and is clinging to an engagement with Edward because of his family wealth. But Lucy has letters of his and mentions a ring she gave him, which Elinor has seen. Mrs Jennings is going back to London, and asks the older Dashwood girls to be her guests, and Marianne is very keen to go, because WIlloughby is in London. Elinor finds the journey wearing because her sister is not particularly polite to Mrs Jennings, and she has to keep up good manners. In London, Marianne is highly emotional as Willoughby does not call on them. She has another suitor, Colonel Brandon, who is quite a bit older than her but she is cool towards him, thinking him too old for love. Elinor is sorry for Marianne, but regrets her bad manners at times. Then they meet Willoughby at a party and he is visibly shocked and gives her a cool acknowledgement. The following day he writes to her and tells her that he is engaged to another woman and returns her letters. Marianne collapses with grief and shock.

|Sense and Sensibility II

Marianne is nearly 17, and just at an age of being ripe to fall in love so when she meets Mr Willoughby,who is visiting one of their neighbours, she falls for him. Willoughby is handsome and charming and seems as taken with Marianne as she is with him, but Elinor is a little wary when they know that he does not have a large estate and shows no sign of proposing. Mrs Dashwood smiles on the romance. Elinor has an admirer, too, Edward Ferrars, the shy brother of her sister in law, Fanny. Hoowever the Ferrars family dont much like the idea of his marrying a girl with such a small dowry. The Dashwoods have settled into their cottage on Sir John Middleton's estate, and mainly socialise with the family. The Middletons have a visitor, Lady Middleton's mother, who is a kindly old lady whose husband was in trade, and who has a large fortune. She visits her 2 married daughters, Charlotte and Lady Middleton a lot and takes a liking to the Dashwoods. She is silly at times and vulgar, but well meaning. However Marianne finds her very annoying, with her teasing about love affairs.

Sense and Sensibility

This was Austen's first published novel. She wrote a version of it, called Elinor and Marianne, as a teenager, and re worked it into a novel later on. The novel is the story of 2 sisters, Elinor, the elder, is sensibile and controls her emotions. Marianne is passionate and thinks that social conventions are of less importance than feelings. There is another sister Margaret who is not very clever. The Dashwood family are landed gentry and inherit a large estate Norland Park from an uncle. However, their father dies only a year after inheriting and his family are not left well off. He has a son, John by an earlier marriage and the estate passes to his son's son, Harry, so the 3 girls and their mother are left with only a small legacy. John is married to a very callous young woman and while he thinks of helping his sisters by giving them an annuity, he ends by deciding that they dont need any more money. The Dashwood ladies find a cottage on the estate of a relative, Sir John Middleton and move there, where they can live more cheaply.

These old Shades Part IV

Justin leaves as the party breaks up in horrified disorder. Fanny tells Madame de St Vire that Leonie is alive, the woman has lived for years, having been forced to give up her child, and she now breaks down completely. After Justins departure, Fanny takes Mme De St Vire into their house, to look after her. SHe sees a priest and calms down a little. Justin goes into the country, to visit the old priest who had educated Leonie, guessing that she would have sought refuge there. She is there with her maid and he tells her what happened. But he tells her that although he loves her, he does not want to marry her. He is too old, his career has been one of selfishness and vice. He wasted one fortune and made his present fortune gambling. Leonie tells him that she loves him, and does not care about the age gap, and that she would rather be the last woman in his life... A little later, the couple arrive in Paris, where the rest of the family are wondering what has become of them. Justin present Leonie to them as his Duchess.

These Old Shades Part III

Justin tells Edward and Hugh that he knows what has happened to Leonie, and he insists that the family go ahead with a party which they had planned. The men can see that Justin has changed, that he is a gentler more decent person. He has told Hugh earlier of his intital dispute with St Vire, who attacked him because Justin had asked for permission to court his sister. He was socially their equal and St Vire's angry response was positively crazy, and Justin and he became enemies. Now however he says that he wants to destroy St Vire because of what he did to Leonie. At the party, Justin tells a story, rather than reciting a poem. He tells a tale of 2 brothers, who hated each other, which is St Vire and his younger brother Armand. St Vire married, wanting to have an heir and cut out his brother. HOwever, his wife only had a stillborn child. Then she became pregnant again and this time, St Vire took her away to hs estate in the country, and this time she produced a son... But, the son was not St Vires. He had bribed a local farmer into letting him take his newborn son, and in return the man, M Bonnard, took over the care of Leonie and moved away from the lords estate. Justin describes the impoverished sordid life that Leonie, daughter of a nobleman endured... and that Leonie ended her life in the river. Madame De St Vire breaks down and hte crowd are horrified. St Vire shoots himself.

These Old Shades II

In England, Justin takes Leonie to his sister Fanny who is married to a rather dull but good hearted man, Edward Marling. She has a son. He tells her that Leonie is his ward and not his mistress. Fanny affects shock but she is a sophisticated woman who likes to flirt. Justin tells Leonie she has to learn to be a young lady, and he takes her to Avon, his house in Somerset, and trains her in the social graces. He brings in a cousin Mrs Field to be her chaperone. Rupert comes to stay at a nearby house, Merivale Place, and he visits his brother's ward.... and finds her amusing and charming. Justin meanwhile tells Hugh, his freind that he has had a long running feud with the French noble Comte de St Vire, and he knows that Leonie is St Vires daughter and he at first wanted to use her to hit out at the nobleman. But now he also wants to hurt St Vire because of how badly he treated Leonie. Leonie disappears from the Avon estate, and Rupert, who was due to meet her, follows her trail to France. He rescues her from St Vire but when Justin catches up with them he wont tell them why the Comte De St Vire who kidnapped her, has an interest in her He takes her and Rupert to Paris, where Leonie makes her social debut, and becomes the toast of Paris society. But Avon's former mistress tells her that all of society is laughing at her, because they know that she is St Vire's bastard daughter.. and that the DUke of Avon is in love with the daughter of his enemy.

These Old Shades Part I

This is another of Heyer's early works, set in the 18th century. Her hero is Justin, Duke of Avon, a selfish aristocrat of 40 who lives to gamble and womanise. He is staying In Paris, with a friend, Hugh Davenant, who is a more moral and serious man. Justin has a young brother of 20, a scapegrace called Rupert and a flighty married sister, Fanny Marling. On his way home from a lady's house, Justin runs into a boy running away from his brother who is going to beat him. Justin realises that the boy isnt of peasant stock, unlike his brother, and tells him that he will buy him from him to keep as a servant. He brings the boy Leon home and takes him around with him as his page. After a few weeks, he tells Leon that he knows she is really a girl. She tells him a bit about herself, she grew up in a poor farmer's family, but was educated by the local priest. When her parents died, her brother Jean took her to Paris and she dressed as a boy to serve in their tavern.... Leonie has become devoted to Justin as he has rescued her from a horrible life, but she does not like being a girl. Justin tells her he is taking her to England....

The Corinthian BY Heyer I

This is another of Heyer's earlier works. Richard Wyndham is expected to Marry a young woman who has been intended for him since childhood, and he nerves himself to make a formal proposal. However Melissa Brandon is haughty and cold and off putting and clearly does not like him. So he shies away from the proposal and puts it off. On his way home from his club, he is drunk and is rather surprised when a boy jumps out of a window into his arms. He finds that it is not a boy but a girl of 17 or so. Penelope is boyish, and also is being pressured into marrying one of her cousins, since she has a large fortune. Richard agrees to help her escape and go to the country where her family house is located. She was childhood sweethearts with a young lad there and tells Richard she would rather marry this young man, Piers Lutterell. Richard and Pen travel to the country where they solve a murder mystery and Pen discovers that her old friend is now in love with a more feminine girl and wants to marry her. But she and Richard fall in love and decide to marry.

Black Moth III

Jack rides to Diana's rescue and duels with Tracy, again defeating him. Andrew, the youngest brother of the Duke arrives at their country house with his brother in law Richard, who is trying to get up the nerve to tell his freinds that it was he who had cheated 7 years earlier. Tracy realises that this time he is beaten and that Diana is lost to him.. he does not want a scandal so he suggests that the Carstares brothers, Diana and Andrew stay at the house for the night. He then says he will go abroad for a while. Miles also arrives to help rescue Diana, and he tells Dick that he still thinks badly of him for letting Jack bear the blame of his cheating and for the cheating itself but he is willing to over look it. Jack tells his brother that he is going to marry Diana and bring her home to Wyncham, his home. The novel ends with Tracy going abroad and admitting to his friend Frank Fortescue that he had had genuine feelings for Diana. In real life the odds are that Richard would not have been easily forgiven for his cheating but Heyer was a young writer at the time and the book demanded a happy ending. It is more adventure than social comedy but for a teenage girl it is a very good first book.

Black Moth II

Miles is a bit of a stage Irish man character and its never explained why he is living in England.. but he loves Jack and does not beleieve that he ever cheated. He tells Jack that Richard is friendly iwht his wife's family, and that he is always helping them out with money problems. They are a greedy arrogant selfish bunch, who live lives of luxury on credit, and drink, gamble and wench. Molly, Miles' wife, takes a liking to John and persuades him to stay for a little while...He agrees but alhtough he is using a false name, he refuses to socialise. However, his brother is engaged in argument with his wife, Lavinia, because he wants to admit to his cheating. She is angry with him and gets involved in a heavy flirtation with an old admirer Harry Lovelace, who asks her to run away with him. Tracy, the Duke of Andover has not forgotten his passion for Diana and his anger that he was stopped from abducting her... and he intends to try again. He puts one of his staff in a job as groom to the Beauleigh family and uses the man to kidnap Diana. She had gone out riding with this groom as escort, and Tracy takes her off in his carriage to his home. He tells her that if she will marry him, he will allow her to sleep alone that night, but that he is not bothered if she refuses as he will simply force her. Her father goes to the home of the OHaras where Jack is dining alone, the couple having gone out to dinner. John knows who tried to kidnap Diana, a few months earlier and tells Mr Beauleigh who is a simple country gentleman that it is the Duke of Andover who has got his daughter.

Black Moth

This is the first novel written by Georgette Heyer, she was only 15 when she wrote the story, to amuse her brother who was ill. A few years later she had it published. It is an adventure story with a lot of romance, and set in the 18th century, unlike most of her later works which are set in the Regency. Her hero is Jack Carstares, the son of an earl who was accused of cheating in a game of cards and left home to live abroad in disgrace. After a few years living as a gambler or teaching fencing, he got lonley for home and returned to England where he turned highwayman. His father has died but he refuses to claim his title or estates, unless he could clear his name...but he cannot do that because his brother Richard was the one who cheated. Richard is now running the family estate and living with his spoiled wife Lavinia. He is racked with guilt but Lavinia will not let him tell the truth. Jack rescues a young woman who is being abducted by the rakish and selfish Duke of Andover, who is the brother of Richards wife. He duels with Andover, and wins, and saves the young woman, but is himself injured. He is nursed by the girl, Diana Beauleigh and her spinster aunt, who live in a small manor house with Diana's father. Jack and Diana fall in love but he knows he cannot tell her of his feelings. He lives in the house till he is better but then goes to see his friend, Sir Miles OHara, a local magistrate whom he had accidentally encountered just before he found Diana.

Cousin Kate, the end

Kate is relieved to have Sarah visit, and tells her of her engagement and how she and Philip hope to marry very soon. She can go to London to stay with her nurse until the wedding. But while they are discussing this, they hear someone shrieking. It is Sidlaw, Lady Broomes devoted maid. Kate hurries to her aunt's bedroom and finds her dead, strangled. She had summoned Torquil to talk to him about his rash behavour in riding his horse, and he has killed her. Philip comes in and tells her he will go in search of his cousin, who clearly now realises that he is mad and fears discovery. He and Badger, Torquil's valet find him in the lake... dead. Philip goes to tell the awful news to Sir Timothy, that his wife and son are dead. Kate feels depressed that this means that they will have to live at Staplewood, rather than at PHlip's house, as they can't leave the old man alone with his tragic memories. Philip had never expected to be the heir, and he wont want to leave his home either. Sarah tells her that things might not be so bad.... she has talked to the servants, and learned that the local gentry did not like Lady Broome much because she was seen as haughty.. and that she kept Sir Timothy away from socialising iwth them. Sarah says that if Philip and Kate live there, and make it a home again, they will have the neighbours befriending them and seeing their old friend Sir Timothy. Kate tells Philip that she wont go back to London, she is going to stay with him until the funerals are over and suport him. Philip is pleased and says that this will help Sir Timothy, and that he wants the couple to marry as soon after the funerals as may be considered proper. In spite of the tragedy, Kate can see a happier future for herself and PHilip.

Cousin Kate again and again

Kate is happy to be engaged to Philip but she is feeling guilty that she has become engaged without the sanction of Lady Broome who is her chaperone, and while her aunt is ill. She tells PHilip that she thinks he's unjust to her aunt, that she is selfish, true but not as bad as he makes her out to be. Kate loves Philip and admires his character but she feels that he's prejudiced against Lady Broome... and she tries not to believe that Torquil is indeed mad, though his behavour is becoming more erratic. She was aware of his fits of temper and concerned when he got hold of a gun and began brandishing it about. After a couple of days, Kate is allowed to see Lady Broome, and it is a strained meeting. She tells her about her own youth, and how her family were not that well off and although she was a good looking girl she only had a small dowry. She then met Sir Timothy and although he was much older than her, she liked him and married him. She loved London society life, but within a few years, her husband's health broke down and she had to move back to Staplewood and run the estate for him. Kate sympathises but then her aunt tries to persuade her to marry Torquil, and she says that she is now engaged to Philip. Her aunt gets very angry, at this penniless girl thwarting her plans. Then Sarah Nidd arrives, worried about Kate. But she has met Torquil during her journey to Stapelwood, and he had spurred his horse and almost caused a terrible accident. WHen Lady Broome hears of this, she tells Kate that she knows Torquil is mad, that he was always unstable and recently he has become dangerous and violent and may have to be confined. She says that the only thing that can save Torquil's reputation is for him to get engaged and married. She tells her neice that the mental illness came from her family, and that she desperately wants her son to father an heir, before he becomes so bad that he will have to be confined. Kate is horrified at her callousness.

Cousin Kate Again 2

Kate is increasingly uneasy with life in the Broome household, especially when Lady Broome suggests to her that she should marry Torquil. She points out that she is 5 years older than him and penniless. But she begins to feel that her aunt is using her position to put her under pressure.. that Lady Broome perhaps wants to control Torquil and his wife, and maintain her status as lady of Staplewood for life, rahter than let him be free to choose his own wife. So she wants to pick a bride for him who is beholden to herself. But she is beginning to feel that she wants to escape from Staplewood but has nowhere to go. Then Philip comes to tell her that there is someone in the village to see her. She is amazed to find that old Mr Nidd, Sarah's father in law has come to see if she is all right. He is a shrewd old man and fond of her so he decided to come to Staplewood and see her and he met Philip in the town. Philip brings Kate to one of the better inns where she can talk privately to Mr Nidd and he tells her that Sarah was worried because she had only had one letter from Kate, but she thought that Kate was busy with her new life. Kate tells him that she is not having a gay social life, but that she would never forget Sarah. She writes a note for him to take to his daughter in law but she realises that Sarah's letters and her to her nurse had been intercepted by Lady Broome who is trying to drive a wedge between them. However when she gets home to Staplewood, she finds that Lady Broome has contracted flu and has collapsed, very ill. She offers to help nurse her aunt but is not allowed, but during her aunt's illness, she and Philip talk. He tells her that he thinks Lady Broome is manipulating her and that Torquil is on the verge of madness. He also tells her that he is in love with her and wants to marry her, although he is not a very rich man. He has his small estate and can give her a home.

Cousin Kate again

Kate feels uneasy in her new home, in spite of liking Lady Broome and Sir Timothy, her aged husband. He is very old and frail and he and Lady Broome seem to lead rather distant separate lives. Torquil is an odd boy who seems very arrogant and cold, but he clearly admires his cousin. Dr Delabole is the family doctor who lives in the house and takes care of Sir Timothy and Torquil whose health is not good either. Over several weeks, she adjusts to life with the family but she soon finds life there quite boring. Lady Broome is busy with her household, Sir Timothy leads a quiet life, and Torquil is odd and difficult. She wishes she could be of more help to her aunt but LAdy Broome wont give her any real duties. She writes to Sarah but does not receive a reply. Then Philip Sir Timothy's nephew comes to stay, he is a handsome young man several years older than his cousin, and all the servants like him and wish he lived there permanently as he cheers his uncle up. She is inclined to like Philip but feels that he is cool towards her. He clearly does not like Lady Broome and she doesnt like him. Kate becomes friendlier with Philip, and tells her about her father and her home in Portugal. Philip lives in a small manor house and runs his own estate, which is much smaller than Staplewood. He visits Gurney Templecombe, one of the Broomes' neighbours who was his childhood friend, and they talk about Torquil. Philip tells Gurney that he has been uneasy about his cousin for some time, and thinks that he is going mad, and that he's worse than he was a few months earlier. Gurney says there have been stories of Torquil running away from the house, to go to the local pub, but he does not know what to make of them.

Cousin Kate redux

Some time ago I was writing a blog on the Cousin Kate novel by Georgette Heyer. It is one of her last novel.. published in 1968. I let it lapse so Im going to go back to it. It is set in England a few years after Waterloo, and Kate Malvern the heroine, is a governess of 24. Her father was an army officer and she spent many years with him in the Peninsular War, looking after him and providing him with support on the march, when her mother had died. Her father's family were upper class and her mother's family were poorer and less well bred and both families had fallen out with the Malverns when they married. Kate did not know any of her relatives. She and her father came back to England when the war ended, and moved into a set of elegant rooms. However, Major Malvern was a gambler and in attempting to keep them with his gaming, he ended up losing most of his small fortune. Kate found a job as a governess in the countryside, and set out to earn her living, at the age of 23. She had had some support from her former nurse, Sarah, who had married a man with a small business, in London. Joe Nidd had a carriers business and he and Sarah lived in the City with his aged father and relatives.. and Kate knew she could turn to the homely motherly Sarah in a crisis. Kate arrives at Sarah's house, having lost her job because the brother of her employer tried to kiss her and when she refused to kiss or marry him, there was an uproar in the house. Sarah is glad to see her, but shes worried that as Kate is young and pretty, its not going to be easy for her to get a new job. Kate tells her that she is considering seeking domestic work, as perhaps a lady's maid, rather than a governess because it is better paid....and Sarah is horrified at the thought of her nursling becoming a servant. She decides to write to Major Malvern's family to see if they would forget the old quarrel and give her a home. She and her father in law find that the Majors half sister is married to a wealthy baronet, who owns a well known stately home Staplewood. Lady Broome arrives in London to see her neice and seems a kindly if rather severe woman who offers her a home at least for a visit. She is obviously very rich and fashionable and tells Kate that her husband, the baronet, is a lot older than her and they have one son a boy of 19 called Torquil. Kate agrees to go for a visit and to hope that Lady Broome can find her a job in a little while as she does not want to be beholden to her aunt.

Terrence Hardiman

Terrence Hardiman, who died in early May, was a well known British character actor, who had great talent. He was born in East London in 1937 and went to college, where he took up acting. He learned his craft and worked on stage, and screen for all his working life. He was in some films but most of his work was stage and TV. He was tall and slim and was often cast as a professional soldier, some of his best known work was in the wartime drama, Secret Army, another wartime series, Colditz, and a third called Wish Me Luck. He often played German officers, because he had a talent for making characters sympathetic and complex. He played judges, barristers and doctors as well. He had a small comic role in an episode of the comedy Goodnight Sweetheart where he played a bank clerk who resembled John Le Mesurier's portrayal of WIlson in Dad's Army. One of his roles in later life was Abbot Radulphus in the medieval mystery series Cadfael, and he was in a later Dr Who. Another good part was as an insurance investigator in The Charmer, where he worked with Bernard Hepton who was in Secret Army, and he himself was a dour shrewd man who was suspicious of Ralph Gorse's claim that it was an accidental fire which killed his wife (Gorse had killed her more or less deliberately). He also played a sinister headmaster in the children's series, the Demon Headmaster, which made him very popular in his later years, especially with children. He also did a lot of reading books on audio tapes.