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Contents (80)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. ACTING ON IMPULSE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. INTRODUCTION
  5. “A PROPOSAL TO CICELY”
  6. INTRODUCTION
  7. A PROPOSAL TO CICELY
  8. THE END
  9. READING “A PROPOSAL TO CICELY”
  10. “THE LITTLE LADY”
  11. INTRODUCTION
  12. THE LITTLE LADY
  13. I.
  14. II.
  15. III.
  16. THE END
  17. READING “THE LITTLE LADY”
  18. “LINCKES’ GREAT CASE”
  19. INTRODUCTION
  20. LINCKES’ GREAT CASE
  21. I.
  22. II.
  23. III.
  24. IV.
  25. V.
  26. VI.
  27. VII.
  28. THE END
  29. READING “LINCKES’ GREAT CASE”
  30. “THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST”
  31. INTRODUCTION
  32. THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST
  33. THE END
  34. READING “THE BULLDOG AND THE BEAST”
  35. “ACTING ON IMPULSE”
  36. INTRODUCTION
  37. ACTING ON IMPULSE
  38. I.
  39. II.
  40. III.
  41. IV.
  42. THE END
  43. READING “ACTING ON IMPULSE”
  44. “WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?”
  45. INTRODUCTION
  46. WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?
  47. THE END
  48. READING “WHOSE FAULT WAS IT?”
  49. “THE CHINESE SHAWL”
  50. INTRODUCTION
  51. CONT
  52. THE CHINESE SHAWL
  53. I.
  54. II.
  55. III.
  56. IV.
  57. V.
  58. VI.
  59. VII.
  60. VIII.
  61. THE END
  62. READING “THE CHINESE SHAWL”
  63. “THE OLD MAID”
  64. INTRODUCTION
  65. THE OLD MAID
  66. THE END
  67. READING “THE OLD MAID”
  68. “LOVE”
  69. INTRODUCTION
  70. LOVE
  71. I.
  72. II.
  73. III.
  74. THE END
  75. READING “LOVE”
  76. THE SEARCH FOR “ON SUCH A NIGHT”
  77. GEORGETTE HEYER’S BIBLIOGRAPHY
  78. FURTHER READING
  79. COMING SOON!
  80. OCTOBER 29, 2019

In manner and speech she is also very much like the eponymous heroine of the autobiographical novel, Helen (1928), yet to come. The short dialogue between Helen and her friend Anne could almost have been lifted from Helen had it not pre-dated that novel:

“Helen, you needn’t pretend with me.

A hot flush rose.

“Never have.”

Interestingly, the writing of this final short story coincided with the return from Nigeria, after eighteen months away, of Heyer’s dear friend, Ronald Rougier. In 1923 he had qualified as a mining engineer and in October of that year had sailed to Nigeria to take up a position with the Niger Company. It is not known whether Ronald proposed before he left, but if he did, he was not accepted. It was only after his return in the spring of 1925 that Heyer agreed to marry him. Just as Helen is reunited with her old love, Maurice Parmeter, after a long absence in India, so Heyer was reunited with Ronald after his time in Africa. They were engaged in May 1925 and it’s possible that Heyer wrote this story as an outlet for her feelings. For most of her writing life, her books and stories would be an outlet for her emotions.

“The Old Maid” is fascinating for what it appears to tell us of Heyer, but it is also a very entertaining story. The characters live, the dialogue is crisp and revealing, and there is a gruff humour of the type at which Heyer excelled. There is also an element of Jane Austen’s novel Persuasion, with its story of lost love and second chances. Like Anne Elliot, Helen strives to hide her true feelings, and like Captain Wentworth, Maurice Parmeter learns that honesty is the best way forward.

This was to be Heyer’s last contemporary short story. She would, however, write three more contemporary novels. They would sell well, earn good reviews and achieve multiple reprints. Not only would Heyer suppress them within ten years of their publication, she would also exclude from a comprehensive list of her novel and short story publications all but one of her nine short stories that were published in the 1920s. Only the Danish title of “The Chinese Shawl” would remain in her records – a tantalising clue for those keen to know more of a wonderful writer and her feelings about these early, youthful works.

THE OLD MAID

HELEN KING-EYRE, who was thirty-six and looked forty, stood by the window with her back to her friend and said nothing at all. Mrs. Dering eyed her speculatively from her seat by the fire, and surreptitiously smiled.

“You do remember him, don’t you, Helen?” she said softly.

Helen swallowed hard. Did she remember Maurice Parmeter! She’d tried to forget him all these weary years, and miserably failed. And now he was coming home from India for good, and, if Anne Dering was to be believed, he wanted to see her again.

“Yes. I remember him,” she said curtly.