The Virgin Who Ruined Lord Gray - Anna Bradley Page 0,124
be made unhappy, and so they’d returned to Great Marlborough Street, much to the delight of Lady Clifford and the young ladies at the Clifford School, particularly Cecilia, who haunted their townhouse like a cheerful, starry-eyed ghost.
“Have I mentioned how fond I am of this scar?” Sophia asked, gently caressing his lip. “I imagined tasting it long before it was proper to do so.”
“You did?” The thought of her gazing at his lips and wondering how they’d taste made his stomach tighten with desire. “How long before?”
“Since the day we went to see Jeremy at Newgate.” The dreamy smile on Sophia’s lips faded a little, and a shadow crossed her face at mention of Jeremy, who remained tucked away in some obscure part of England. Lady Clifford assured them he was recovering nicely, but Sophia missed him, and it would be some time yet before it would be safe for her to see him.
Tristan stroked his fingertips over her cheek, anxious to distract her. “What else do you imagine? What do you dream of, Sophia?”
“Oh, so many things. Sometimes I dream of Lord Everly and Sampson Willis being brought to justice.” She smiled, but there was a hint of sadness to it.
There’d been no sign of Everly in recent weeks. He’d retired to his country estate, and hadn’t returned when Parliament resumed. No one in London seemed to know what precipitated this sudden change in Everly’s circumstances. As for Willis, he’d abruptly retired as Bow Street Magistrate, and disappeared from London without a trace. Tristan suspected Kit Benjamin had a hand in that, but that was pure speculation on his part. In the end, neither Everly nor Willis had gotten what he deserved, but neither had they gone unscathed.
But Tristan didn’t want to talk of Everly, or Willis, or anything that brought shadows to Sophia’s eyes. He touched a finger to her lips. “No. Tell me only your sweetest dreams, pixie.”
Sophia turned her face to kiss his fingertips. “Jeremy, safe and happy and frolicking in the ocean somewhere. Lady Clifford with Gussie on her lap, and Emma, Georgiana, and Cecilia giggling over Mrs. Radcliffe’s novels. But mostly…” A pink flush rose in her cheeks as she gazed up at him. “Mostly, I dream of you, Tristan.”
Tristan’s heart swelled in his chest, and he had to kiss her then, his mouth taking hers in a gentle, lingering kiss before he drew away to gaze down at her. “And what do you dream of, Lady Gray?”
“Your eyes, soft on my face, and your beautiful, stern lips curved in a smile,” she whispered. “I dream of your arms wrapped around me, my head resting on your chest, your heartbeat echoing like music in my ear.”
“Ah, pixie.” Tristan brushed soft kisses over her brow, her eyelids, and the tip of her chin before gathering her against him and burying his face in her hair. “Those aren’t dreams.”
Author’s Notes
James Scott, the first Duke of Monmouth, was the illegitimate son of Charles II. He was beheaded in 1685 for treason after leading the Monmouth Rebellion against his uncle, James II and VII (England and Scotland, respectively).
St. Clement Dane’s Church is located on the Strand in the City of Westminster, London. The graveyard adjacent to the church is a product of the author’s imagination.
Ann Radcliffe, The Romance of the Forest (London: T. Hookham & Carpenter, 1791).
A gentleman by the name of Sampson Wright succeeded John Fielding as Chief Magistrate of Bow Street. Mr. Wright would have been Chief Magistrate during the year in which the novel is set. The author changed the character’s last name from Wright to Willis so as not to impugn Mr. Wright’s reputation as a man of honor.
Jack Sheppard, an early eighteenth-century thief and petty criminal, was known for his numerous miraculous escapes from London’s prisons. The incident Georgiana is referring to is Sheppard’s infamous second escape from Newgate, which he achieved by climbing up a chimney, removing an iron bar that had been set into the brickwork, and using it to break through the ceiling. He made it onto the roof of Newgate Prison, and used a blanket to gain access to the roof of the house next door. He broke into the house, and walked through the front door to freedom.
The Proceedings were published accounts of trials that took place at the Old Bailey, made available to the public after each session. The Proceedings grew from the seventeenth-century ballad, chapbook, and broadside accounts of the lives and exploits of London’s famous criminals, which were popular with London’s citizens. The Proceedings were generally between four to nine pages long, and though they did not contain comprehensive accounts of every case tried at the Old Bailey, by 1680 most trials appear to be contained in the Proceedings. Sophia may well have found an account of Patrick Dunn’s trial there, as well as accounts of previous thefts in which Peter Sharpe was a witness.
Tim Hitchcock, Robert Shoemaker, Clive Emsley, Sharon Howard, and Jamie McLaughlin, et al., The Old Bailey Proceedings Online, 1674–1913 (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 24 March 2012).
Arthur Griffiths makes references in his book The Chronicles of Newgate to an incident that took place in 1593, in which a prisoner was conveyed from the prison inside a coffin. The details regarding this curious incident are scarce, but it appears the scheme involved a corrupt guard swapping the rightful occupant of the coffin with a gentleman who was still very much alive, and who was thus conveyed from the prison. Arthur Griffiths, The Chronicles of Newgate (London: Chapman & Hall, 1884).
The London Corresponding Society was formed in 1792, a year prior to the opening date of the novel. Society members believed in the principle of universal suffrage, in which every adult citizen was guaranteed the right to vote, regardless of gender, race or ethnicity, or income. William Pitt’s government strenuously opposed the Society’s calls for radical governmental change. In May of 1792 the Society submitted a petition signed by 6,000 citizens demanding political reform. Between the petition and the political upheaval caused by the French Revolution, Pitt became so fearful of the Society’s influence he risked putting its three principal leaders—Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall, and John Horne Tooke—on trial for the attempted assassination of King George III. The government charges were transparently false, and all three men were acquitted. Pitt’s effort to frame prominent members of the LCS for an attempted assassination of the king (a crime for which they certainly would have been executed) inspired the plot between Lord Everly, Peter Sharp, Sampson Willis, and Richard Poole to frame innocent members of the LCS for theft.
William Pitt did eventually succeed in silencing the Society by suspending the Habeas Corpus Act, thereby making it legal for the government to detain without trial persons suspected of radical activities. Under pressure from the suspension of habeas corpus and the Unlawful Societies Act of 1799, which outlawed radical secret societies, the London Corresponding Society ultimately disbanded.
For an enlightening discussion of Ellen Moers concept of “The Female Gothic,” please see “Female Gothic: The Monster’s Mother” (New York Review of Books, 1974).