Devils Cub Part V

Leonie sets off to go to Paris with Rupert as escort. She tells him that if Mary is respectable, she feels that Dominic has compromised her and must marry her. She feels he has an obligation though she does not really want him to marry a girl from such a family. In Paris, Frederick meets Juliana, but they quarrel because he does not know how to manage her flirty ways. Frederick asks Mary to marry him then, because it will save her from having to marry Dominic. She is afraid of marrying Dominic because she feels he does not love her and it will not work out, and such a marriage would probably alienate him from his family. She agrees to marry Frederick, but says they must get away and go at once to Dijon where there is apparently an English clergyman travelling with a young gentleman... This man can marry them. She is aware of how Alpha Male Dominic is, and knows that he will not easily let her go even if he does not want to marry her. She and Frederick leave Paris, but Dominic, with Juliana follows them. He catches them up and Frederick tells him that he and Mary are already married, and Dominic challenges him to a duel. Mary runs away, and meets Justin who has followed his wife to France. He tells her that even if he disapproved of the marriage, he would never abandon his son, and that he feels that Mary is too good for Vidal. He and Mary hasten to Dominic and Justin tells him that he will put it out that he has agreed to the marriage, and they can be married quietly in Paris. Mary asks Dominic if he really wants to marry her and he says that he does love her, but he won't inflict himself on her, unless she agrees. Mary laughs at this- knowing how domineering he is. They confess their love for each other. Juliana and Frederick are reconciled and plan to marry, and Rupert drinks a toast to Dijon.

Devil's Cub Part IV

While the couple are in the inn, another English visitor arrives. It is Frederick Comyn, the young man who has fallen in love with Juliana. He is going to Paris to persuade Juliana to marry him. Frederick is a rather stuffy young man but kind hearted. He does not speak much French and Mary sees him and offers to help. When he finds out she is with Vidal, it emerges that Juliana and Mary were at school together years ago and were good friends. Vidal tells him that he is going to marry Mary when they get to Paris. Mary however is secretly determined to find some way of avoiding this, thinking that if they get to Paris, perhaps Juliana will help her. Vidal tells Mary that since Juliana is in Paris, he may ask her to take Mary in. She is staying with a cousin of theirs, whom he calls Tante Elisabeth. Then he can pay court to Mary, respectably, and when he finds an English clergyman they can get married quietly. Mary goes along with this but she's not happy. Back in England, Mrs Challoner finds out that Mary has gone off to play a joke on Vidal, but has not come back. She goes to see Leonie, who is in London, and tells her that Vidal is going to have to marry her daughter. Leonie is shocked but keeps calm and asks why Vidal would have run off with Mary, when he was, by Mrs Challoner's account, flirting with Sophia. She wonders privately if Mary is a scheming girl who eloped with Vidal in hopes that he would marry her rather than her sister. She gets an uneasy feeling, discussing the situation with Fanny, that her son might have chosen to take Mary away in an angry mood.. and she fears that as the girl comes from a genteel family, they may have to accept her as his wife.

Devils Cub Part III

Mary meets Vidal at the rendevous, wearing a mask to hide her face. He takes her to an inn to dine before they go on board ship, and until then, she manages to fool him that she is Sophia. But he takes her mask off and realises who she is. She laughs and tells him that she and Sophia thought up this prank. They wanted him to know that Sophy is not as easy as he thought she was.. and that he can be easily fooled. She acts as if she were as vulgar and silly as Sophy. Dominic loses his temper badly. He tells her she has come away with him and he'll take her as his mistress. She has acted like a silly wanton girl. He threatens to make her drunk, if she will not come willingly. She finally agrees to go, hoping to escape from him later. On the voyage, she is sea-sick and Dominic is surprisingly kind, but when they get to France, he tries to seduce her. She shoots him with a pistol she has stolen from his coat. Dominic is not badly hurt, but enough to startle him. He realises that Mary is not the silly flirt that she was playing. They have to stay in the inn for a few days for him to recover from his wound. He apologises and tells her that he is sorry and will make sure she does not suffer from this episode. Mary however realises that she was very foolish to put herself in his power and that it's not going to be easy to sort this tangle out. As they talk, she tells him that her father's family are gentry and that her grandfather is Sir Giles Challoner, an old soldier. Vidal says that they will have to get married, as old Challoner is a martinet and a friend of his father's. Mary refuses to marry him because she realises that she cares for him, in spite of his faults and to be in a forced marriage with him, and disapproved of by his family, would be hard for her.

Devil's Cub Part II

Dominic is not interested in marriage, and is pursuing a girl from a merchant family, who is not averse to becoming his mistress if she cannot be his wife. Sophia Challoner is silly and pretty, and has an older sister, Mary, who is more correct in her behavour. The girls' father was from a gentry family who married a merchant's daughter. Mary was sent to school by her grandfather, but although she finds her mother and sister trying, she has chosen to live with them. Justin tells Dominic that flirting with a bourgeois girl like Sophia is looking for trouble, he should stick to professional courtesans or women of his own class. Dominic gets involved in a dispute with a man at a gaming club who accuses him of cheating and they duel. Dominic has killed in duels before, but Justin has warned him that he can't continue to do this sort of thing. He injures the man, Quarles, seriously. Justin tells him that he will have to go away to France, because of the scandal. Dominic agrees to go, and tells Sophia that he will take her to France with him. He has a hotel in Paris, and she can live there as his mistress and hostess. Sophia is willing to go, but Mary is horrified, fearing that even if Sophia intends to try and force Dominic into marriage, he won't take any notice of her wishes. She accidentally receives a note that Vidal sends to her sister. He arranges a meeting place for them. Mary knows that her mother is a foolish woman who thinks that she can push Vidal into a marriage with a lower class girl, and she decides to go instead of Sophia, to save her sister.

Devils Cub

Devils Cub is another of Heyer's early novels and is a sequel to These Old Shades. It's set in the 18th century and the hero, Dominic, is the son of Justin, Duke of Avon. I've never been a great fan of Dominic, who is rather contemptous of women, but the novel is entertaining enough. The novel is set about 25 years after Justin's marriage, and his only son is now 24. He is a rake like his father, and spends most of his time wenching and gambling. Leonie adores her son but worries that he is even more selfish and wild in his behaviour than Justin was, in his younger days. She fears that he has something of the violent temper of her father, the Comte de St Vire. In the intervening years, Edward, Lady Fanny's husband has died. She is still frivolous, but she does grieve over his death. Now, Fanny has 2 children, John who is a dull, conservative young man and Juliana, who is 19 and silly and frivolous like her mother. Fanny is none too pleased when Juliana falls in love with the son of a country squire, who is not particularly rich or fashionable. She has half hoped that Juliana may manage to marry her cousin Dominic.

Faro's Daughter Part II

Deborah then meets Max Ravenscar, Adrian's cousin who is many years his senior. He acts as a protector to the younger man. Max goes to the gaming house and abuses Deb, rousing her temper. The book has a complicated plot, where Deb and Max quarrel and fight, and she tries to find a way of saving her aunt from bankruptcy, without making a marriage that she feels would be wrong. Max has a younger half sister, Arabella, who is just out in society and very flirtatious. He worries that she will do something foolish like eloping with a penniless adventurer. Deb meets a young girl, the Hon. Phoebe Laxton, who is the daughter of an impoverished peer. Phoebe is being bullied by her mother into marriage with a horrible old rake, Sir James Filey, and Deb who has a good heart, rescues her and hides her out in the house. Filey is furious to learn that his young bride has vanished. Adrian visits the house at times privately and meets Phoebe who is close to him in age. They come from the same rank of society. The 2 of them fall in love and he decides to rescue her by eloping and marrying her. Adrian matures and tells Deb that he may help out the younger Laxton girls but he won't allow the family to leech off him financially. Eventually Deb and Max make up their quarrel, as he realises that she is not a vulgar and grasping woman as he had first believed and they admit their love for each other.

Faro's Daughter by Georgette Heyer

This is another of Heyer's earlier novels and not among my favourites. It involves kidnappings and abductions and I prefer her gentler comedies of manners. It is set in the 18th century. The heroine is Deborah Grantham who comes from a genteel family, but they have no money. She has an aunt who looked after her from childhood and a brother Christopher, who is an army officer but he is living on his pay. He is good natured but selfish. Deborah's aunt, Lady Bellingham, has been very good to her niece and nephew but she is hopeless with money. She tries to make a living by discreetly running a gambling house. She invites gentlemen to her home to play cards and games of chance. But she is not much good at making money, as she is extravagant... Deborah is a good looking young woman and a lot of men come to the house to see her. But her being a gaming house hostess means that she is not going to be invited to society events where she might meet a suitable husband. However, Adrian Mablethorpe, a young man of 19 or so, who has a title and a fortune, goes to the house. He becomes smitten with Deborah, and asks her to marry him. Deborah is reluctant to encourage him, as she is an honourable girl and she at 24 is 5 years his senior. She knows that his family would not accept her as his wife... But Lady Bellingham is getting increasingly desperate and she tries to encourage Deb to consider Adrian as a husband. Or alternatively, she could scare his family into buying her off by paying her money to stay away from him.