The Reluctant Widow

by Georgette Heyer

lady,

the windows were latticed.

Tudor?

The hall in which she found herself was a large, irregularly shaped room, with a superb oaken stairway at one end of it, and at the other a huge stone fireplace, big enough for the roasting of an ox,

Something in his demeanour, coupled as it was with the depressing dilapidation all around her, put her forcibly in mind of the more lurid romances to be obtained from a circulating-library.

Pander to the Regent,

Pimp

‘And what is to be done about Mrs Macclesfield?’ she asked. ‘It is very uncivil of us, no doubt, but I am inclined to think that we shall do best to let Mrs Macclesfield pass out of our lives without embarking on explanations which cannot be other than awkward,’ he replied.

man who must needs come creeping into a house by a secret stair can be up to no good!’ ‘Very true. There is a want of openness about such behaviour that strikes one forcibly, and makes me at least disinclined to pursue the acquaintance.’

fear poor Eustace’s affairs will be found to be in a sad tangle. It is well that I was able to snatch a day to journey down to visit you! You will let me relieve you of the burden – the sad duty – of settling the effects!

Spy

My Lord Bedlington had not kept company with the Regent for years without acquiring a hard head and the digestion of an ostrich.

the women likely to be busy about the house, in the way they are at that hour, though I’m sure I don’t know what they can find to be doing for ever,

I really could not answer for his life if he were to continue in office.