Smouldering Fire by D.E. Stevenson

Title: Smouldering Fire
Author: D.E. Stevenson
Publication: Furrowed Middlebrow/Dean Street Press, paperback, originally published 1935
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Scotland

Description: The life of a Scottish Laird is not as idyllic as it used to be, even in D.E. Stevenson land. Iain MacAslan loves Ardfalloch so much that, in order to pay the bills, he forces himself to lease it to a rich businessman for the hunting season. Instead of going sensibly to Edinburgh for the duration, he stays in an old cottage by the loch. Planning to keep a low profile while the Heatherington Smiths are in residence, he encounters their guest, Linda Medworth, recovering from a bad not-quite-finalized divorce, and her son. Iain once caught of glimpse of Linda while in London and fell for her but is now at a disadvantage more or less masquerading as a laborer on his own land. There are obstacles to keep them apart but a picturesque Highland setting and the most loyal of clansmen add dimension to the story.

My Impression: I suspect life in the Scottish Highlands in any century would be too chilly and isolated for me but it is certainly delightful to read about it and, as always, Stevenson provides great secondary characters. Mrs. Heatherington Smith, wife of a nouveau riche businessman, is the most unusual person in this book. She has learned not to ask inconvenient questions and simply offer unconditional support as her husband has risen to prominence:

She had started life fairly low in the social scale, and had married Arthur Smith (as he was then) when she was eighteen years old. Arthur Smith was only a broker’s clerk, but he had a genius for finance and ambitions far above his station. He started climbing. Once or twice his foot slipped on the ladder of success and down he went to the bottom again, taking his wife with him. Mrs. Heatherington Smith, who had just been getting used to a certain degree of comfort and affluence, would suddenly find herself plain Mrs. Smith once more, back in a small dark kitchenette cooking Arthur’s dinner and washing up the greasy plates with her own hands. The strange thing was that she didn’t mind – she settled down quite contentedly and made the best of it. There were compensations in poverty – so she discovered. You could talk to your neighbors and take part in their lives, and she found them more interesting than the people she met in the upper circles of society.

It is fortunate that Mrs. Heatherington Smith’s kind heart and interest in other people cause her to befriend Linda when they share a sofa at a fashion show. She brings Linda home for tea, and Linda finds herself revealing that she divorced a philandering race car driver husband to protect her young son and how difficult the resulting publicity has been. Both realize their friendship is too sudden to meet society’s strictures but Mrs. Heatherington Smith is reminded of a daughter she lost and Linda needs a sympathetic ear. She invites Linda and her son Richard to join the house party at Ardfalloch. Linda suspects Mrs. Heatherington Smith is not of her class but recognizes the sincerity of the invitation and accepts, which changes her life. 

The Heatherington Smiths may have money but they cannot get the most out of their servants (a frequent theme in books of a certain type). This is contrasted to the incredible loyalty of MacAslan’s people. They know everything about him and wish he would marry Margaret Finlay, an attractive and affluent neighbor, which would solve his financial worries. Not only do they keep secret that he is hiding out in the cottage, they vie over who will clean it and cook his dinner. It is this (very dated) allegiance to their laird that gives this book a surprising twist.

Ardfalloch also appears in The House of the Deer, which I read in October in the wrong order. It features two of MacAslan’s children, so you can guess Smouldering Fire ends happily. If there were any doubt.

Source: Library.  Does DES have any other divorced heroines?  I can't remember any but surely it was unusual for 1935.  She is careful to make it clear that Linda was the injured party and that she and Iain never even kissed.