And Papa would tell her no more than that. Julia, not often given to total despair, spent the rest of the day in deepest gloom. She found it very difficult to believe that her father would be happy about an alliance with Jack Douglas, but what other options were there, and what else could he mean?
Before they left the following morning, Julia insisted in wrapping up
The journey was made in Aunt Lucy’s comfortable chaise and, as soon as Banford Hall was left behind, her aunt turned to Julia.
“My dear, I cannot believe that your father would have agreed to any alliance with Jack Douglas without your consent.”
“Then why would Harry Douglas have said what he did to my mother?”
Aunt Lucy opened her mouth to reply, then she paused and looked at Julia and shut it again without any words coming out. This was so unlike her aunt that Julia fixed her with a determined stare and said, “What were you going to say?”
“What I was going to say was that you should consider what Harry Douglas did not mention yesterday.”
“What was that?” Julia said resentfully.
“You must tell me, my dear, not I you.”
Julia was already so upset that this remark put her into a really bad temper and she turned her face away to look fixedly out of the carriage window, and she refused to say anything for the rest of the journey. If she had glanced at her aunt, she would have been even more infuriated to see that Aunt Lucy was smiling to herself.
In his usual jovial way, Harry Douglas was waiting to welcome them at Norton Place by the bottom of the steps leading to the front door. Julia had intended to thrust the package containing
Once they were there, her host said to Aunt Lucy, “Have you said anything to Miss Maitland since yesterday?”
“No, sir,” said her aunt.
Julia looked from the one to the other, mystified.
“You will have heard your mother, Mrs. Maitland, say that she would favour my son marrying her eldest daughter, if your father agreed? I imagine that you were not happy about that?”
She stared at him, then replied, “No sir, I was not—no one seems to think of consulting me about my own future! I wish to return
“Indeed. Now, please do as I ask. Take that package into the library, and leave it there if you wish. And when you are ready, come back and join us in the salon here.”
He spoke calmly, and Julia’s wrath was changing now to a dull ache of sadness, and she did not move.
“Julia,” said Aunt Lucy, “please do as Mr. Douglas requests.”
Julia glared at her and at last turned on her heel and walked along the corridor and into the library. She went across the room to the table by the window where she had seen the Book of Hours on her first visit to the house, and put the package down. She looked down and let her hand rest on the book for several moments, remembering that day. She raised her head and was about to turn to leave the room when she jumped in alarm, for there, reflected in the glass of the window, was a tall figure standing in the shadows beside the door, watching her. It was only when she turned to face him that he stepped forward into the light and she realised who it was.
He looked at her gravely. “My father tells me that you are very unlikely to want to marry his son, Miss Maitland. Does that apply to me, or are you willing to make an exception for a gentleman who, as you know, may never be able to waltz very well?”
Julia was at a loss for words. It had been such an emotional few hours since Mr. Douglas had visited Banford Hall to see her father, filled with sadness and fear for the future.
Kit Hatton walked slowly across the library towards her, then stopped just beyond touching distance and said, “I understand that Mr. Maitland and your mother are happy with the proposition that my father put to them yesterday, that you should marry me.”
It was only then that Julia realised what Aunt Lucy had meant in the carriage. Harry Douglas had asked Mama if she would favour his son marrying her eldest daughter. But he had not said which son.
“Come, my darling,” said Kit. “Everything really is all well for us both now.” And he opened his arms to her as she wept tears of joy and relief. She had dreamt so many times of kissing Kit Hatton, but the reality surpassed what she had hoped for, and needed, and wanted.
Eventually they turned their attention to more practical matters. Kit told Julia how Aunt Lucy and Harry Douglas had collaborated together to pass on the news about Dominic Brandon’s marriage, and Kit had set off immediately from Dorset to travel to Norton Place.
“About ten days ago, James Lindsay confronted his cousin Patrick about the connection with Dominic Brandon, and Patrick revealed many details about the distribution network for contraband that Dominic had been organising. Frank Jepson was caught by the revenue men a few days later as he landed with a large cargo of contraband at the bay near Morancourt. I wrote to your aunt, and she passed that information on to Emily Brandon, who told the earl and countess.”
It was quite half an hour later when there was a firm cough in the doorway, and they both turned around to see Harry Douglas and Aunt Lucy standing side by side, regarding them with expressions of amusement and affection.
“Well, my dear,” said her aunt, “are you still going to return
“No, Aunt,” said Julia meekly, “for Kit has told me that the book belongs to both of us from now on.”
The History Behind The Story
Historical Fiction
The term “historical fiction” is usually applied to a novel set in any period between the Dark Ages (before Christ) and the years immediately following the Second World War. The Historical Novel Society was founded in England in 1997, at a time when historical fiction was rather less popular than it is now, by a group of enthusiasts who volunteered to review novels being published on historical subjects.
As a keen reader of historical novels, I joined the Society in its early days, and it has continued to prosper with more and more readers, authors, publishers, and agents from the UK, and more recently from the US, becoming members. Over 100 volunteers now review about 800 books that have been published in the English language each year for the Society. Harper Collins authors like Tasha Alexander, Suzannah Dunn, Nicole Galland, and Robin Maxwell have all pleased readers with their novels about particular times in history.
Regency Romances
Although I enjoy reading novels set in all different periods of history, I seem to return most frequently to those often described as Regency Romances, which are set in the early 1800s, a time originally immortalised by the English author Jane Austen, whose six novels remain as popular now as they were in the century when they were written. She surely would have been amazed by the “Jane Austen industry” which has prospered during the past few decades through books, TV series, and films, and in particular the enduring enthusiasm of readers for her most enigmatic hero. My novel
