The Riddle of the Shipwrecked Spinster
"Jove! Is that what is meant by 'looking daggers'?""If it is not, then I have failed," she said darkly.
"I consider myself properly slain."
Synopsis:
This is the story of a young Cordelia who, when pressed by her gold-digging mother to marry, runs away for a year to find adventure on the high seas.
While the gossips of her hometown delight in imagining her a shipwrecked spinster, Cordelia returns safely to England. There she befriends a set of handsome twin brothers, Piers and Peregrine, noble in both spirit and birth.
Cordelia hopes to marry Gervaise Valerian. But when Gervaise refuses to keep his word and marry, his cousin Piers steps in to take his place. With great trepidation but with a fierce sense of duty, Piers approaches Cordelia's mother for her "daughter's" hand only to find something entirely wrong . . .
Twelfth-Night-like escapades of confused identity dot this charming story, which proves that love eventually conquers all.
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Quotes:
Incredulous, Glendenning exclaimed, "Can I credit it? She really rejected you?"
"Not in so many words. She just ... laughed."
"Laughed?"
Squirming at the recollection, Cranford said bitterly, "Until she cried. I took my leave at once, feeling several kinds of a fool, as you may imagine. All the way out to my carriage I could hear her mother screeching."
"Only see how she flirts with him, Caro! I declare it is most droll."
"I am not flirting with him," argued Miss Celeste, pouting, and then adding provocatively, "But I'll own I've ever had a soft spot in my heart for gentlemen with curling hair and such very blue eyes."
"Or with no hair," appended Mrs. Caroline waspishly.
"And a squint," tittered Mrs. Lucretia.
There was no denying he was quite absurdly pleased that Miss Mary had not been disgusted by his nonsense.
"Zounds, how you delight to dance around an answer!"
"I dunno about that, sir. But - what would a gent be doing dressing up in our village?"
"Besides, I think dandelions are very pretty."
"And were created by the same Hand which gave us roses and lily of the valley."
"I have my reputation to consider, and I feel it would be prejudicial to my future to continue in the service of a gentleman who refuses to wear a wig, and objects to the refinement of lace on his jabots."
There were lights everywhere, waving about, and voices shouting. He wondered in a detached fashion if the Major's bullet had actually killed him and he was riding Tassels to the next plane of existence. For some reason that amused him, and he chuckled to himself.
"Why, that's what families are all about, eh, sir? We stand by our own."
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