Marry in Haste, Repent at Leisure! Another 5 star book for the #1961 Club

There is probably a whole fictional sub-genre of governesses-in-jeopardy but few have the immediacy or appeal of Camilla Forest, the intrepid heroine of Marry in Haste. She has been dismissed from her job on a cold spring day and deposited by the side of the road to catch the mail coach to London. 

When a gentleman, passing by in his carriage, thoughtfully stops to tell her the coach is delayed until the following day, night is approaching and she has nowhere to go.

False Colours by Georgette Heyer

Kit Fancot is a rising young diplomat, stationed in Vienna, when he senses something is wrong with his identical twin brother back in London. It’s 1817 so he can’t call or text – he uses the recent death of his godfather as an excuse to make the long journey home. 

The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer, for the #1962Club

Title: The Nonesuch
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publication: E.P. Dutton & Co., hardcover, 1962
Genre: Historical Romance
Setting: 19th century England

Description: Local society in the village of Oversett, North Yorkshire, is excited to hear that Sir Waldo Hawkridge, a dashing and wealthy member of the ton, has inherited Broom Hall and has come to see it with his amiable young cousin, Lord Lindeth. Tiffany Wield, a lovely heiress of 17 longing to enter London society, is determined to captivate them both.

A Lady’s Guide to Scandal by Sophie Irwin

Title: A Lady’s Guide to Scandal
Author: Sophie Irwin
Publication: Penguin, trade paperback, 2023
Genre: Historical Romance
Setting: 19th century England

Description: Ten years ago, Eliza Balfour, a quiet seventeen-year-old, was bullied by her parents into marrying an earl 25 years her senior, although she loved his nephew, Oliver Courtenay.

The Unknown Ajax by Georgette Heyer - one of her most amusing

Title: The Unknown Ajax
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publication: Ace paperback, originally published in 1959
Genre: Historical Romance/Regency
Setting: England, 1817

Description: The Darracott family is astonished to learn that cantankerous Lord Darracott’s heir is not his third son Matthew, but a grandson they never knew existed, Hugo.

The Corinthian by Georgette Heyer – for the #1940Club

Title: The Corinthian
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publication: Bantam, paperback, originally published in 1940
Genre: Historical Romance
Setting: 19th century England

It’s time for the #1940 Club, hosted by Simon from Stuck in a Book and Karen from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings, featuring books published in a particular year.

Beauvallet by Georgette Heyer for the #1929Club

Title: Beauvallet
Author: Georgette Heyer
Publication: Dutton hardcover, originally published in 1929
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: 16th-century

This week, Simon from Stuck in a Book and Karen from Kaggsy’s Bookish Ramblings are hosting the 1929 Club, where bloggers read and write about books published in a chosen year.

Description: Sir Nicholas Beauvallet is the most dashing of Queen Elizabeth’s sea captains. Known as the Sea Dogs, a group of English privateers was authorized to carry out raids on England's enemies, whether they were formally at with war with them or not.

Bookshelf Traveling with the Aiken Sisters - December 12

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West.  Last time I displayed a shelf that holds my juvenile hardcover Joan Aikens, so today we are going downstairs to a shelf that is shared by Joan and her sister Jane Aiken Hodge, another favorite. 

Bookshelf Traveling - October 31, 2020

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West.

This bookshelf is directly below last week’s and you can see it begins with two hardcover Brenda Jaggers (I had to reread A Winter Child last weekend – still a 5, with a quirky ending) there was no room for above.  Next are my Daphne du Mauriers, although I think I loaned Rebecca to my niece and The House on the Strand is in a box I mailed in May to my sister in New York.  The post office periodically sends unconvincing updates to say they are still looking for it.  That USPS sent my box of books to North Carolina instead of New York does not give me a lot of confidence many of those mail-in ballots will be delivered in time to be counted next week.  Thank you for nothing, Louis de Joy. 

Bookshelf Traveling - October 24

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which was created by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness and is currently hosted by Katrina at Pining for the West.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a new pile of books.

This shelf contains primarily historical fiction/upscale historical romance by British authors Brenda Jagger and Stella Riley and Canadian author Susanna Kearsley.  Jagger (1936-86) wrote just nine novels, several of which were set in 19th century Yorkshire.  She is best known for The Barforth Trilogy, which consists of The Clouded Hills, Flint and Roses, and The Sleeping Sword (these were retitled in the US which is always annoying when you think you've found a new one).  It is a wonderful series set in the late 19th century in which independent women struggle with identity, marriage, class, and the expectations of those around them.  I am trying to remember which are my favorites so took A Winter’s Child down from the shelf beneath the one pictured and began rereading.  Set in Yorkshire just after World War I, it is about a young widow who spent the war nursing soldiers in France and returns home to rebuild her life near her husband's family.  I gave it 5 stars the last time I read it.

Bookshelf Traveling - July 17

Time for another round of Bookshelf Traveling in Insane Times which is being hosted by Judith at Reader in the Wilderness.   The idea is to share one of your neglected bookshelves or perhaps a new pile of books. 

This shelf holds most of my Eva Ibbotson collection, a Viennese-born author (1925-2010) who spent most of her life in England.  I don’t recall if my mother or I first found Ibbotson but we became fans in the 80s after her first two books were published, A Countess Below Stairs and Magic Flutes.  Her seven adult novels are charming, light historical novels with romantic elements about resolute heroines with an oversized sense of responsibility for others, no matter how dire their own straits.  Ibbotson’s books display a sensitivity toward refugees and displaced people that likely resulted from her own experience.  They are real comfort books!

More Frederica, Chapters 22 - 28 (including Conclusion)

When we left Frederica, in the eponymous book by Georgette Heyer, the heroine's youngest brother Felix had stowed away in a hot air balloon and come to grief when the balloon descended into a tree.   Frederica asked Lord Alverstoke to pursue the balloon and he is now in charge of the injured Felix at a farm outside London.

Chapter 22

Alverstoke’s night at the farm minding Felix is very stressful.   At least grumpy Miss Judbrook feeds him quite adequately but Felix tosses and turns all night, feverishly moaning or calling out for Frederica.  My favorite bit is when he wakes up and asks where he is, and Alverstoke replies, “You are with me, Felix,” which he knows is silly when he utters it, but Felix is comforted. 

The Bromance Book Club, in which some macho athletes use romance novels to improve their real-life relationships

Title: The Bromance Book Club
Author: Lyssa Kay Adams
Publication: Berkley, Trade Paperback, 2019
Genre: Romance

Plot: Pro baseball player Gavin Scott has a beautiful wife, Thea, and three-year-old twins, and what he thinks is a perfect life until he learns his wife has been faking orgasms since their marriage.  Hurt and ashamed, he moves out and Thea asks for a divorce.  Drinking himself to oblivion in a motel, Gavin is visited by his best friend Del and several other athletes and Nashville notables who urge him to join their secret group, which uses romance novels to improve their ability to understand and please the women in their lives.  Gavin is skeptical but has no better options, reluctantly accepting a pile of romance novels, including Courting the Countess, a regency historical that has some parallels with his situation.  Under the tutelage of this ramshackle group, he persuades Thea to let him move back in for one month, with the goal of winning her back.  During this time, he will try to show he understands her needs, convince her of his love, and cope with those who don’t want Gavin and Thea to have a HEA . . .

My Impressions: I don’t remember who recommended this book to me but I usually enjoy contemporary romance with a sports theme and found this entertaining and often amusing, if not quite as charming as I had hoped. While the source of Gavin and Thea’s problem is meant to be funny, their real issue is that they married quickly when Thea was pregnant, and the lifestyle/absences of a professional athlete put a strain on their marriage while they were still developing their relationship.   Now they have to decide if they want to work through their problems or just bail.

Thea and her sister Liv both have a lot of baggage from their parents’ unhappy marriage and divorce.  Their father is about to remarry someone close to them in age and their mother’s bitterness has rebounded on her daughters.  Gavin also (although this is less convincing, given that he is a handsome, talented athlete) has struggled to believe he could find a loving relationship.   The premise of the story is that until they can share their feelings and their troubled pasts, there cannot be a true meeting of the minds.  Thea also has a lot of resentment that Gavin’s job takes him away from home a lot and she dropped out of college after their marriage (not sure why as they can certainly afford a babysitter if she wanted to continue her studies either full or part-time).   Although Gavin’s attempts to woo her are sometimes poignant and sometimes funny – as when he takes her on a date to a craft warehouse to show he understands her interests, and his buddies stalk them in disguise), it takes Thea going to her father’s wedding to understand some truths about her own marriage, not to mention a grand gesture from Gavin to work everything out. I definitely enjoyed this enough to read the second book about Thea’s sister!

Harvard freshman Chris Ledlum (4) has been the Ivy League
Rookie-of-the-Week five times

Off the Blog: It was a busy basketball weekend with two “eyelash wins” by the Crimson over Princeton (61-60)and Penn (69-65), and a disappointing double OT loss by the University of Chicago to Brandeis (cheering for a family friend).  I managed to squeeze in a few hours at our VITA tax site as well.

Source: Library

Back to Frederica by Georgette Heyer, Chapters 18-21

For those who wondered what had happened to the discussion of Frederica, I thought I should finish posting:

Image borrowed from https://tinyurl.com/yj6en84b

Chapter 18

After seeing Felix successfully wheedle Alverstoke and hearing that Jessamy is exercising his precious horses, Lady Elizabeth is dying of curiosity and rushes to see her elder sister, Lady Jevington, for her opinion of the Merrivilles.   Eliza reveals that Lady Jersey wrote to her, predicting Alverstoke would marry Charis and that Alverstoke painted her in the most glowing terms.  Lady Jevington says Alverstoke was hoaxing her: “But unless I am much mistaken it is the elder and not the younger sister for whom he has conceived a decided tendre.” 

Frederica by Georgette Heyer, Chapters 14 - 17

In which Alverstoke makes a move that unnerves Frederica, Jessamy comes to grief in a Pedestrian Curricle, Harry is rusticated, Lady Elizabeth comes to town, and a balloon ascension is planned

Chapter 14

Alverstoke surprises everyone by turning up for what Betsy Ray’s family would call Sunday Night Lunch. He dresses down in morning dress and manages to be the most elegant man in the room without no effort. Felix is delighted to see him and thanks Alverstoke for arranging the trip to the New Mint with Mr. Trevor (although it is doubtless Charles who did the legwork). Darcy Moreton is struck first by Alverstoke’s friendly response to Felix’s greeting and then by Alverstoke’s “warmer and more intimate” smile for Frederica.

Good God! mentally ejaculated Mr. Moreton. Sits the wind in that quarter? 

Frederica by Georgette Heyer - Chapters 11-13

In which the Merrivilles please the ton, and Alverstoke’s friendship with Frederica deepens

Chapter 11

Charis is a huge success at the ball.   She is asked for every dance and, properly, won’t stand up with anyone more than twice.  However, Endymion who was immediately smitten, asks for two dances and escorts her to supper.   He is slightly outmaneuvered by a fellow officer, Lord Wrenthorpe, who is escorting Chloe and wants to make a party of four.   Endymion loses his tête-à-tête with Charis and has to dash to find Frederica who is with Lady Jevington’s son Gregory, another “cousin”.  We also learn that Mrs. Dauntry introduced Charis to Lord Wrenthorpe – she has already noticed her son’s infatuation, disapproves, and is trying to distract Charis.

Although the ball is magnificent and everyone who is anyone is there, Lady Buxted is infuriated that Alverstoke did it to launch the Merrivilles and that rival hostesses are urging her to bring them to their festivities.  Lady Jersey promises vouchers for Almack’s for the Merrivilles and oh-so-sweetly includes Jane as well.   Just as we saw Lady Jersey in the previous chapter complain about Louisa and Augusta snubbing her when she was their younger sister’s friend, Louisa remembers it differently:

When Lady Buxted remembered impertinent little Sally Fane, a wretched schoolroom-miss to whom she had administered a number of well deserved set-downs, the delicacies her brother’s French cook had prepared for the refreshment of his guests tasted like ashes in her mouth.

Alverstoke does not dance with his wards but does ask Frederica if she is satisfied.  She tells him she is delighted by Charis’ success, and he is amused that she spares no thought for herself.  Although Frederica assumes anyone being nice to her is hoping to get close to Charis, she does not realize two of the guests prefer her – Lord Buxted and Darcy Moreton, Alverstoke’s oldest friend.   In fact, Mr. Moreton quizzes Alverstoke on his real motives for taking the Merrivilles under his wing and says “[t]he elder sister’s the filly for my money.”   Alverstoke admits he did it to annoy Louisa.

After the ball, many of their new friends call on the Merrivilles at Upper Wimpole Street: Lord Buxted, Endymion, and even Lady Jersey makes a courtesy call, which she almost regrets.  Luckily, she decides to be charmed by Miss Winsham’s eccentricity, and her approval helps establish the Merrivilles in society.   Miss Winsham is made much of when she escorts the young ladies to Almack’s but she does not appreciate the attention, and afterwards is happy to delegate their chaperonage to Lady Buxted or Mrs. Dauntry.  Neither of those ladies is thrilled with the Merrivilles but can’t show it because each needs Alverstoke to pay her bills.   Lady Buxted is jealous of their popularity but doesn’t think her son could be seriously interested in Frederica, while Mrs. Dauntry is worried about Endymion’s infatuation with Charis, which includes escorting Chloe to spend time with her new friend.   Lady Buxted spitefully tells everyone that the Merrivilles have no fortune, hoping to spoil their chances, while Mrs. Dauntry, craftier, tries to introduce Charis to any possible prospect that isn’t her son.  She is so preoccupied with Charis that she does not notice Chloe and Charles Trevor becoming close.   The ton ignores Lady Buxted and observes Mrs. Dauntry’s hints about the family estates in Herefordshire, so there is a growing sense that the Merrivilles are better dowered than they are.

Chapter 12

Frederica begins to hear rumors about her and Charis’ alleged fortunes, and she is concerned about the misrepresentation and worried Alverstoke is responsible. She asks him – after he has taken Jessamy for a ride with the grays and complimented the boy on his skill – and he denies it but is amused, especially when he hears Mrs. Dauntry has been introducing Charis to some questionable prospects. 

Meeting her enquiring look, he said, “Who would have thought that your adoption of me would have provided me with so much entertainment?” 

“You did!” responded Frederica unhesitatingly.  “I didn’t know it at the outset, but I am very sure now that you adopted us merely to infuriate Lady Buxted!” 

“And can you blame me?” 

An involuntary chuckle escaped her.  “Well, perhaps not as much as I ought! But you did think it might amuse you!” 

“True – and so it did!”  

Alverstoke and Frederica confer about some of Charis’ would-be beaux and Alverstoke says he will take them driving in the park to send a quelling message to inappropriate suitors.  Frederica says he doesn’t need to include her but she is grateful for the attention to Charis:

She tried, unsuccessfully, to repress a mischievous chuckle, and added, with disarming candour, “You can’t think how much against the pluck it goes with me to administer to your vanity, cousin, but I haven’t spent all these weeks in London without realizing that your consequence is enormous!” 

“Viper!” said his lordship appreciatively. “I will endure the company of your beautiful but bird-witted sister, but on the condition that the tedium of these sessions will be relieved occasionally by your astringent quality."

Alverstoke reveals he has heard the rumors about Endymion’s passion for Charis, and Frederica reveals that Lord Buxted prefers her.   Alverstoke says this improves his opinion of Buxted.   Felix bursts in on their conversation to beg Alverstoke to take him to the New Mint.   Alverstoke says Charles Trevor deserve this treat and it is revealed that Mr. Trevor has been coming to the Merrivilles’ informal Sunday night suppers.  Puzzled, Alverstoke asks Frederica if Charles is pursuing Charis too; she says no and is too discreet to reveal the truth, but Alverstoke guesses that Charles is interested in Chloe Dauntry.

Chapter 13

Alverstoke demonstrates his active support of the Merrivilles by taking Charis driving in Hyde Park where they can be seen by the ton.   Unfortunately, although Charis has lovely manners and impresses him by her lack of coquetry to the admirers they encounter, she is not a great conversationalist and he is bored.   He politely asks her to drive out again and she surprises him by asking if he would take the whole family to visit my favorite place in England, Hampton Court!  Everyone enjoys this expedition, especially the boys and Charis who get lost in the maze, while Alverstoke (who somehow in pre-internet 19^th century acquires the key to the maze) guides himself and her out of it.  She teases him about not taking his own nephews and nieces on such excursions and he says that would have bored him. 

“But why didn’t you send [Charles Trevor] to escort us today?” she asked, in an innocent tone at variance with the mischief in her eyes.  “You cannot have supposed that such an expedition as this wouldn’t bore you quite as much as the Mint!” 

He glanced down at her, half smiling, but with an oddly arrested expression in his face.  

She was puzzled by it, but after a minute, she said quizzically: “Are you wondering if you can bamboozle me into believing you won’t entrust your team to Mr. Trevor?” 

“No,” he replied slowly, “though it would be true! I was thinking how well that bonnet becomes you.”

They continue to joke until he asks her gently if she thinks Charis really wants the future Frederica seeks for her.   This distresses Frederica.  She explains that she doesn’t want a brilliant match for Charis, just an eligible husband who can provide the “elegancies of life.”   Alverstoke points out that Charis prefers the country to town which surprises and worries her sister.  She says she only wants Charis to be happy but the girl is so persuadable and falls in love so often she did not want Charis to throw herself away on someone in the country without ever having seen a wider range of suitors.  Frederica admits she doesn’t always understand her sister because she has never fallen in love herself, which astounds Alverstoke.  She tells him she is four-and-twenty and happy to be on the shelf, taking care of the family.   She says his reputation doesn’t reflect his kindness to her family, and asks what he thinks about an older gentleman in his 40s for Charis but Alverstoke says the man sounds too dull and wonders why she is so well disposed towards him.

“I was beginning to think you had a tendre for this paragon yourself, and that would never do: you wouldn’t suit, believe me.” 

“Readily!” she said, laughing.  “So perhaps I won’t, after all, try to cut Charis out! As if I could!” 

“I can think of more unlikely contingencies,” he said. 

"Can you indeed? Then either you must be all about in your head, or a bigger humbug than I am!” she said roundly.

Questions:

Is this conversation between Alverstoke and Frederica what is sometimes called a recognition scene – on his part, at least?   Certainly, Alverstoke enjoys Frederica’s easy conversation and lack of awe around him (no one else teases him).   I don’t think he is in love with her yet but he does recognize something special about her.

These chapters are also important because they show the way the ton embraces the Merrivilles (whatever their finances) but Alverstoke realizes before Frederica that Charis enjoys parties but doesn’t really like being the center of attention.   Charis tells him the country is nicer because people don’t stare.   For those down on Frederica, let me point out that she is distressed at his suggestion the season for Charis was not what her sister wanted.   She just wants Charis not to have to pinch and scrape if she marries someone of modest means and  hitherto, it is implied, Charis fell in and out of love readily.

Should Frederica have been spurred to have a serious talk with Charis after she has this conversation with Alverstoke?

Frederica - Chapters 9 and 10

In which Frederica and Charis prepare for the ball, then attend a pre-ball dinner party at Alverstoke House with many new “relatives”

This cover is dreadful

Chapter 9

While the Marquis is enjoying the races at Newmarket, the Merriville ladies are preparing for the ball while Felix gets into trouble by taking a steamboat to Margate without permission (where he makes friends with the crew and spends the night aboard before being returned to Frederica the next day). Afterwards, Frederica asks Jessamy to keep an eye on him so for a while they spend time exploring London and having a great time. When Jessamy wonders if he has been leading Felix into bad ways, Frederica calms him down and also asks him not to encourage their neighbor, Mr. Nutley, in his infatuation with Charis.

“. . . it would not do to become intimate with that family , or with their friends. To be plain with you, Jessamy, they may be good, worthy people, but they aren’t up to the rig! Mrs. Nutley’s patronage cannot give us consequence – in fact, it would be excessively harmful! Her manners, you not, are not distinguished, and, from what Buddle tells me, Mr. Nutley is a very ungenteel person.” 

“Buddle!” he ejaculated. 

She smiled, “My dear, if Budddle holds up his nose you may depend upon it he is right! Papa once told me that a good butler may be trusted to smell out a commoner in the twinkling of a bedpost! Young Mr. Nutley, I own, has more polish than his parents, but he’s an April-squire, Jessamy!”

Frederica - Chapters 7 and 8

In which Frederica meets Alverstoke's sister, Lady Buxted, and the Marquis becomes better acquainted with the two youngest Merrivilles, Jessamy and Felix.

Chapter 7

As the inestimable Charles Trevor deals with the aftermath of Lufra’s Green Park adventure, Frederica is suppressing laughter at the way Alverstoke dealt so masterfully with the situation, and also, somewhat ruefully, at herself for invoking his name like the Marquis of Carabas in Puss in Boots.*    Alverstoke is amused too but gets serious faster than she does and scolds her for walking alone.

“Whatever may be the accepted mode in Herefordshire, in London it won’t do.  Girls of your age and breeding don’t go about town unaccompanied.”

Frederica tries to say she is not a girl and that she is not accountable to him but Alverstoke reasonably points out that she asked him to launch her into society so she must follow the rules.  As someone mentioned, the Merrivilles have at least two housemaids, a cook, and Buddle, the loyal family butler; however, Frederica economized by not bringing a footman to town.   Alverstoke says he will have Mr. Trevor find her one and, when she tries to take her leave, suggests that Frederica allow him to drive her to Lady Buxted’s to pay a visit of ceremony.   Frederica wonders if it would be rude to do so without Charis, not realizing this is Alverstoke’s very objective.   Then she is worried that she is not adequately dressed for a social call.   His very astute comments on her outfit surprise Frederica but she says even if he is a rake she knows he is not a threat to her or Charis.  Lufra is given to a footman to bring back to Upper Wimpole Street while Alverstoke and Frederica drive to Grosvenor Place.   He asks why they brought Lufra to town and Frederica explains that he is part of the family and could not be left behind.   She goes on to explain that Lufra saved Jessamy’s life and vice-versa, and that Jessamy wants to be a clergyman and has been going through a very somber phase.   Alverstoke is relieved that she stops discussing her brothers:

He had missed neither Frederica’s hesitation nor the note of constraint in her voice, and he had thought it would not be long before she demanded his advice and even his active help, in the task of guiding her young brothers.  She was quite capable of it; and while he was just as capable of withering any such attempt with one of his ruthless set-downs, he did not much wish to do this.  He liked her.  She was unusual and therefore diverting; she was not a beauty, but she had a good deal of countenance, and an air of breeding which pleased him; and her sister was a ravishing diamond whom he was perfectly willing to sponsor into the ton.  There would be flutters in more dovecots that the one he was about to enter, and that would provide him with some entertainment.

Lady Buxted is at home with two of her daughters and is condescending towards Frederica, offering her “a hard stare, two-fingers, and a cold how-do-you-do.”   Frederica explains that Charis is ill and could not come but they appreciate Lady Buxted’s kindness in sponsoring them.   Lady Buxted thaws slightly when she realizes Frederica is not a raving beauty who has bewitched her brother, yet offers no refreshment although the visit lasts half an hour (which seems rude to Alverstoke even if she is conveying a message to her new “cousin”).  After they leave, Frederica who is no dummy, asks if Alverstoke is forcing Lady Buxted to sponsor the Merrivilles.   She knows that Lady Buxted would not want her daughter Jane to be compared unfavorably to Charis.   Alverstoke admits nothing and Frederica speculates that his indifference to what people think causes his boredom.  He escorts her to Upper Wimpole Street, then goes home, planning to take his new grays for a ride but is confronted by Lufra, tethered to the bannister in his front hallway, uttering yelps, barks, and whines.

(I have been puppy sitting the last few days and my brother’s Labradoodle puppy (see below) also yelps, barks, and whines when she thinks she is being abandoned – even if it is just for three minutes!)

Grosvenor Place where Lady Buxted lives

Chapter 8

Alverstoke is somewhat annoyed that his directions to take the dog back to Upper Wimpole Street were not carried out, but his butler explains that Lufra refused to go with either footman so they had to restrain him. Charles says he tried dragging Lufra down the street and even pushed him into a hack without success.

Meeting Alverstoke’s eyes with the utmost blandness, he added, “I believe these Baluchistan hounds are famous for their fidelity, sir.”

Alverstoke does not find that amusing but I do.  He is just telling one of the footmen to fetch Jessamy when the two young Merrivilles arrive – Jessamy who knew Lufra would refuse to go anywhere with a stranger and Felix to coax Alverstoke to bring him to see the pneumatic lift.    Wicken, Alverstoke’s starchy butler, succumbs to the boys’ manners and offers them lemonade and cakes.   Alverstoke introduces the boys to Mr. Trevor and tries to make him take over the pneumatic lift visit.  Jessamy is embarrassed by Felix’s pleas and tries to find out how much Mr. Trevor had to spend on Lufra’s critics.  Alverstoke offers Felix a ride with his grays instead of a dull foundry.  Felix won’t budge.  In the meantime, Jessamy has checked out the grays and is droning on about horses as tediously as Felix is about machinery.   It was more fun listening to the Marquis analyze Frederica’s outfit.
Alverstoke offers to take Jessamy out driving when he returns from the races at Newmarket but Jessamy insists on knowing how much was expended on Lufra first.

This declaration confronted Alverstoke at once with a novel situation, and a dilemma.  No other member of his family had ever felt it incumbent upon him (or her) to repay the sums he had from time to time disbursed: all too many of them demanded unlimited largess as a right; and not two hours previously he had registered a silent vow to decline to assume the smallest responsibility for Fred Merriville’s sons.  That was one thing.  He now discovered that it was quite another to allow a stripling to hand over to him, out of what he guessed to be a small allowance, whatever sum Charles Trevor had been obliged to spend on Lufra’s behalf.

Jessamy won’t give up, even if the offer of a drive with the grays is withdrawn.  Finally, in desperation, Alverstoke tells Jessamy that his father commended the siblings to Alverstoke’s care.   Jessamy is wary but accepts Alverstoke’s story.  He goes home with Lufra, dreaming of horses, while Alverstoke takes Felix to the foundry in Soho (on foot – you would have expected it to be farther away from upscale residences).   On the way, they run into acquaintances of Alverstoke’s who are surprised to see him with a child.   They even encounter Endymion Dauntry, Alverstoke’s heir, a handsome young military officer of only moderate understanding.   Endymion thanks Alverstoke for including his sister in the forthcoming ball and promises to be there.

When Alverstoke and Felix reach the foundry, they are welcomed with open arms.  The manager recognizes a kindred spirit in Felix and Alverstoke zones out of the conversation but realizes Felix really knows his stuff.  Alverstoke finds himself unexpectedly proud of Felix’s knowledge.   Felix is overjoyed by the tour and is incoherent with appreciation:

“J-Jessamy said you didn’t w-want to come but you did, sir, didn’t you?
To be sure I did!” replied the Marquis, perjuring his soul without hesitation.
“And even if you didn’t, you m-must have been interested,” said Felix, with a brilliant smile.

These chapters are interesting for several reasons:  Frederica actually jokes with the Marquis about his status and the toad eating that comes with it.   To make him into the kind of hero we like, we want him to be a little less detached and show more humor (and to appreciate, as he begins to, Frederica’s sense of humor, as this is how some of Heyer’s protagonists connect).   Here, also, he begins a relationship with Jessamy and Felix that is independent of Frederica.

Are children in Heyer depicted convincingly?   Edmund in Sylvester never seems very convincing to me and Arabella’s siblings are mostly off-stage but I do enjoy Jessamy and Felix.   Any others?   (I enjoy Patricia Veryan’s Georgian novels but despise her baby-talking children)

I am guessing some of us would rather go for a ride with the grays than tour a foundry but all the more reason to give Alverstoke props for taking Felix there and observing his acumen.   If you did not immediately warm to Alverstoke, does this chapter make you appreciate him more?

Endymion may be a block but he is very good-natured.  Informed that Felix was Fred Merriville’s youngest child, he said: “No, is he? Well, by Jove!  Fred Merriville!”  After that he somewhat naively added: “Got a devilish bad memory! - Who is Fred Merriville?”

Chloe and I encountered this car last night

* Does anyone remember an old Walker regency called The Marquis of Carabas by Elizabeth Brodnax?   Chapter 7 naturally reminded me of it.  I recall it as enjoyable.