Modern editions of Mrs. Burnett's 1901 The Making of a Marchioness tend to include its sequel, The Methods of Lady Walderhurst, as if they were a single book. I have a vintage edition of the sequel. Unlike my vintage edition of the first book, the picture on the cover is actually of our heroine, Emily, not her beautiful friend, Lady Agatha Slade.

Emily is very much in love with her husband-to-be, Lord James Walderhurst, but don't expect her to be all mushy around him. Emily is not that kind of woman. Even after her wedding, she feels she's taking a liberty in touching his hand with hers. Luckily for her marriage, the marquis is the sort of man who finds sentimental displays of affection distasteful. The description of him kissing the bride at the end of chapter two is, 'And kissed her trembling honest mouth almost as if he had been a man - not quite, but almost.' We gentle readers may be pardoned for thinking that the marquis is luckier in his choice of spouse than his wife, even if Emily is very happy with him.

The villain of this novel is Walderhurst's heir, Captain Alec Osborn, who is a scoundrel and a cad (think Wickham from Pride and Prejudice with less fake charm). Osborn had been counting on being the next marquis ever since Walderhurst's wife Audrey and their infant son died. Osborn holds a grudge because Walderhurst doesn't help him out the way he feels a man should for his heir. It doesn't occur to him that Walderhurst has as little to do with his heir as possible because his heir's character disgusts the marquis. (The description of Osborn's head as 'bullet shaped' took me aback until I remembered that bullets were originally round.)

Sadly, there is racism in this book because Hester, Osborn's wife, is half English and half Indian. Her maid, Ameerah, was her Ayah when she was a child in India. Be prepared to hold your mental nose at the descriptions of Hester and Ameerah's Indian beliefs, particularly in magic. In chapter nine Mrs. Burnett even wrote that Ameerah's deference toward Emily's former landlady, Mrs. Cupp, '...awakened in her a desire to be just and lenient with even the dark of skin and alien of birth.' (Gag!) At least Mrs. Burnett allows Ameerah's love for Hester to be genuine.

Osborn is almost beside himself with rage that the marquis has married a woman still young enough to bear children. Hester, who had to endure much for being Anglo-Indian in her native country, is just as upset that the babe in her womb will probably lose out by Emily having a son.

The Osborns haven't much money, but Emily comes to their rescue. She feels for Hester. Because she was so poor most of her adult life, Emily can tell that the Osborns are poorer than they let on. The Walderhursts are staying at their ancient Palstrey Manor (there had been notable Hyrsts in the time of King Henry I, who reigned from 1100 - 1135). Upon the beautiful grounds of the lovely estate is an empty house, The Kennel Farm. It's in reasonable shape, but hasn't had tenants because that type of house is becoming rare and Walderhurst didn't think farmers would properly appreciate it. Emily is in transports of joy when the marquis gives her permission to furnish it with items of the right period and to invite the Osborns to stay there for the rest of the time in England.

Then the government sends Lord Walderhurst on a mission to India. A more imaginative man might have worried about leaving his bride living so near to a degenerate who would happily see them both dead, but the marquis lacks imagination. Hester confesses that she can't hate Emily. Osborn has no such scruples. They both enjoy living at The Kennel Farm, but they'll be recalled to India eventually. Osborn is an emotionally abusive brute to his wife, but she's become a tigress where her unborn child is concerned. He's got sense enough to be wary of her temper. Personally, were I Emily, I would have suggested that Hester stay behind when Osborn is called back.

Hester actually warms to Emily. Emily buys lovely, fancy baby clothes for Hester's unborn baby in chapter six. Hester is surprised because they are fit, as she put it, for a prince or princess. Emily enjoyed buying them. It didn't occur to her to buy baby clothes suitable for a poor relation. That's just how nice Emily is. In the next chapter, we learn how Osborn plans to kill Emily and make it look like an accident. That's just what a rotter he is.

Osborn's plan goes awry because Emily has had wonderful news. Poor Emily doesn't realize her news has made even Hester hate her. Chapter nine is full of things to put the suspicious reader of mysteries and romantic suspense on high alert. If one hates very convenient coincidences, one will not be pleased that Mrs. Burnett had Lord Walderhurst fall ill with a fever and need to be kept from hearing bad news just when Emily needs him to come home.

If Emily and her husband have an unequal relationship, and Hester is abused by her husband, we have a better marital relationship between Dr. Warren and his wife, Mary.

NOTES:

Chapter 1:

a. Lady Agatha Slade's mother is Lady Claraway.

b. Lord and Lady Castlewood are characters in The History of Henry Esmond by William Makepeace Thackeray. I've just read the plot outline on Wikipedia and Henry's marriage at the end left me blinking.

c. We are introduced to Alec and Hester Osborn.

d. One of the Walderhurst estates is Oswyth Castle.

e. The incident of Alec holding his arm around a girl on top of a bus will come up again later.

f. This is where we learn Walderhurst believes that theory about skull shape having an effect on one's character.

h. Here is the incident where Emily innocently embarrasses the Duchess of Merwold when the old lady was trying to embarrass her.

Chapter 7: When Osborne thinks of Walderhurst as a 'muff,' he means it in the '... a food, a stupid or poor-spirited person' sense.

Chapter 8:

a. This is where Lady Maria uses a racist term to refer to Hester while talking to Emily.

b. Helen Pendennis is the mother of the hero in Thackeray's The History of Pendennis: His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy.

c. Amelia 'Emmy' Sedley is a character in Thackeray's Vanity Fair.

Chapter 9:

a. Emily recommends reading Uncle Tom's Cabin to help Jane Cupp overcome feeling 'the creeps' when Ameerah is with her.

b. Emily reads a book she's fond of because Gossip init tells stories about Walderhurst ancestresses. Her favorite is Dame Ellena.

c.Captain Osborn jokes about the Palstrey ghost.

Chapter 10: Gossip in the servants' hall in the Palstrey Manor is about Ameerah and a pregnant servant girl who seemed to be dead.

Chapter 11: Emily escapes a plot.

Chapter 12: Hester saves Emily from another plot.

Chapter 13: Dr. Warren and his wife, Mary, are introduced.

Chapter 14:

a. Emily is using the name 'Mrs. Jameson'.

b. The Athanasian Creed is brought up as the Warrens discuss 'Mrs. Jameson's' beliefs.

Chapter 15: Mrs. Warren mentions the case of a Mrs. Jerrold who had a strange delusion.

Chapter 16:

a. Emily moves to the Berkeley Square house. She very much enjoys a letter from Walderhurst that refers to things that happened in the last chapter of The Making of a Marchioness.

b. Hester has had her baby.

Chapter 17: Lord Walderhurst had never liked his late first wife, Audrey, and she had never liked him.

Chapter 19: Part of this chapter is in the present, but the very end is four years later.

Chapter 18 shows how much stiff Lord Walderhurst loves his Emily, which is nice, especially after we've had chapters and chapters of how much Emily loves him. The final chapter is shocking - not so much for what happens to Alec Osborn and how it happened, but for what Osborn's colonel has to say about Alec's abuse of Hester, and that as much as the colonel despised what was going on, things weren't bad enough for taking action to stop it!

The sequel may not be as good as the first book, but it's still entertaining. ( )

The story of Emily Fox-Seton, now Lady Walderhurst, continues after her marriage to the Marquis of Walderhurst. She has fallen deeply in love with her husband. After Emily is introduced to her husband's presumed heir, her compassion for his pregnant wife moves her to insist that the couple be installed on the country estate. She is oblivious to the heir's sense of entitlement and the threat she poses to his inheritance as a woman of childbearing years who could provide a son to inherit the title and estate. Danger threatens when the Marquis leaves Emily alone with the Osborns while he goes to India on an extended business trip.

I didn't like the sequel as well as The Making of a Marchioness. The plot is much more melodramatic. Hester Osborn's Indian ayah conformed to a racial stereotype that was probably typical of its era but is jarring to my sensibility. In a way I wish I had stopped with The Making of a Marchioness. Even though it seemed unfinished, I could have guessed how Emily's story would end. ( )