Emma Orczy

The Nest of the Sparrowhawk Emma Orczy

A dastardly deception Lady Sue was young, lovely, fresh - and due to inherit a vast fortune when she came of age. Sir Marmaduke was a Roundhead - and supporter of Oliver Cromwell in the English Civil War. It is 1657. King Charles I's head is long gone and Cromwell rules as Protector. From his manor in Kent, Sir Marmaduke proclaims allegiance to the Puritanical way of the Protectorate. But Sir Marmaduke's noble words hide wicked plans. For Sir Marmaduke is none other than the ward of Lady Sue. And he means to have the tender lady for his wife ... and her fortune for his own. How? Why, by masquerading as the exiled Prince of Orleans, of course. And by murdering or at least disgracing Lady Sue's other suitors, like handsome young Richard Lambert. Historical fiction at its richest and most fascinating by the author of The Scarlet Pimpernel. He who sermonized thus unctuously and with eyes fixed with stern disapproval on the buxom wench before him, was a man who had passed the meridian of life not altogether-it may be surmised-without having indulged in some recreations which had not always the sanctification of his own immortal soul for their primary object. The bulk of his figure testified that he was not averse to good cheer, and there was a certain hidden twinkle underlying the severe expression of his eyes as they rested on the pretty face and round figure of Mistress Charity that did not necessarily tend to the glorification of the Lord.