Freddy from Cotillion - a different style of hero

[Teresa]

I think Hugh is a good demonstration that the kind of person who would be perfect as your local vicar would be very tedious to have as a cousin. There would be times when you would really need someone like Hugh ... but not at family gatherings.

Freddy is lucky in that he finds one of the probably few bright women who are capable of really appreciating him. Some might marry him for the title and fortune he stands to inherit, for his address, because he would be faithful and kind -- which, taken together, would be more than enough for most marriages among their class for the time period --but Kitty really loves him.

Dolph, against all the odds, finds a wife who will be just what he needs.

Jack, one can only hope will someday get what he deserves. (And the same for the absent Claude, he who decapitates little girls' dolls.) George is already married.

Hugh will undoubtedly be prudent in choosing the right helpmeet. I like to think he will also find someone he loves who loves him.

[Louise]

i imagine jack perhaps staying single. i do not think he would make a good husband because as kitty remarks, he is quite odiously selfish. Hugh i hope will get a nice serious girl who enjoys helping him in the parish.

[Teresa]

Jack will probably have to marry eventually, though, if he runs through his own money and needs to marry a lady with a fortune. In that case, one would only hope that her father or solicitors tie up most of her money in settlements that Jack can't touch without permission from her trustees. (That would be galling to his pride.) In addition to that, a wife as selfish as he is and with the personality to stand up to him, I think that would be what he deserves.

For Hugh, I think, the daughter of a neighboring vicar would probably be the very thing.

[Lori]

No, I don't think Freddy is autistic at all. He just has very limited interests. He grows in his scope of concerns when Kitty comes into his life. I like how his father gains new respect for him. His father, a right knowing one, believes the sudden engagement is the best thing that could happen to Freddy. His father realizes all along that somehow Freddy was hoodwinked into it, but he sees how caring for Kitty causes Freddy to exert himself in new ways. Louise is right that Freddy is astute when it comes to understanding his world (and what is and would not at all be "the thing"). He has a high moral code and also a deferential kindness, which makes him a delight to any hostess needing a partner for less favored women. I was just thinking of Freddy yesterdayas I compared his considerate conduct at a ball with that of Mr. Beaumaris, who comes last, dances only when he wishes, and leaves early. I like the line where Mrs. Kirkmichael is annoyed that Mr. Beaumaris won't even spend a moment talking to her lanky daughter, "a gesture which would have cost him nothing, and might have given poor Maria a start in the world."

DOLF, on the other hand, has a real mental problem.

[Lori]

Karlyne wrote: "Emily, you make a good point about knowing men who can be trusted with other men's wives; most men I know can be, simply because they're decent guys, not deceitful or completely selfish.

But I ta..."

I agree that Freddy is alive (and not bones in the Legerwood crypt, by the way).

[Louise]

Emily wrote: "Hj wrote: "Emily wrote: "But if he loves Kitty and we have no indication of him ever actively fancying a man (definition of male homosexual, right?) then where does the conclusion come from that he..."

i think freddy is a little like an amalgam of jeeves and bertie wooster in the novels of P.G. wodehouse. he has bertie's good nature and willingness to help his friends, combined with Jeeves's impeccable taste and acute grasp fo the niceties of social behaviour. bertie Wooster is the soul of chivalry, and undoubtedly a man who would be safe with other men's wives, not because he was gay, but simply because it would never occur to him to try it on with another man's wife. Freddy is the same.

[Critterbee❇]

Whoa - how did I not see that Freddy has his own post? Or did I see and forget? ARRGH.

Go, Freddy, go! <3

[Jacquie]

No one seems to have mentioned Freddy's assistance in the elopement of Olivia Broughty and Kitty's French cousin. It was done to prevent Kitty from getting involved in a scandal but also to thwart cousin Jack' nefarious plan to make Olivia his mistress.

As for the Miles Vorkosigan novels, they are very good. Science fiction,yes, but with wonderful characters and exciting story lines.