Horseman Riding by Part IV

Grace agrees to marry Paul, after some time, and Claire Derwent, who had had hopes that as the daughter of a comfortably off tenant farmer she might attract him, decides to leave the Valley. She goes to stay with relatives who own a tea shop in a country town and stays away for a while, Grace and Paul get married but soon problems arise. She is still interested in womens suffrage which is regarded as heretical by both country people and the local gentry. Paul tries to be tolerant of her ideas but he is becoming a country gentleman. When one of the Potters is caught poaching, he is sympathetic, but Grace is really angry that the man is sent to prison. Paul loves her but finds her rebellious anti establishment views a bit difficult to understand although he is liberally minded. He becomes friendly with James Grenfell, the local Liberal politican and supports him running for parliament. Grace becomes pregnant, and tries to tell herself that her married life will be a success but she is increasingly unsettled. When she has her baby, a son, Paul has to go out to one of the farms where the tenant farmer has been having marital problems and he has been drinking and becoming more unstable. Paul is called out to find that the man, Martin Codsall has killed his wife and then killed himself. He rescues Sydney, their young son and gets Eveleigh, the foreman, to take over the farm. Grace then embarks on a flirtatio with Roddy, the young son of John Rudd who is still running the estate. HIs son is a young Naval officer who has a car and Grace is thrilled by his modernity. She and Paul have a row about it, and she walks out and goes to London. Paul is horrified and grieved, because it seems as if she has given up on their marriage already, and in Edwardian times, divorce was very rare, even among the rich. He mopes unhappily, and hopes she will come back but she does not. He is badly injured when a ship runs aground in the local bay and he leads a team of rescuers. Then Ikey Palfrey, whom Paul rescues from a life in the London slums writes to Claire and tells her that Paul is calling for her. Claire returns to the Valley and Paul turns to her, for love and solace. He decides to get a divorce and marry Claire who is clearly more suited to country life than Grace ever was. Claire is very happy with her marriage, she enjoys being the Squire's wife and loves Paul and admires him in a way that Grace never did. THey soon have several children and rarely go away from Devon. THey pay a visit to London and run into Grace who is demonstrating for women's rights and Claire although she is bored by politics feels sympathy for her ideals. Paul sympathises with Grace who is being ill treated by police and public at times, but he is not that political.