The Second Lady Delcombe by Mrs Arthur Kennard (1900)

Though she lived on until the 1920s, this was Nina Kennard's last novel. I can only presume that either she didn't feel strongly enough inspired to carry on, or that her previous novels had not sold well and she couldn't find a publisher for anything subsequently. This has all the hallmarks of a novel of this period and style - aristocratic cast, wit, inheritance and money, a smidgin of politics, and a bit of love of course. It follows her others, though, in the sense of being slightly off-centre. It's Catholic; the prejudice against the Irish in the second half is very strongly put; the main characters elude us for a few important chapters each, and are both absent at the end. It's the story of a mariage de convenance contracted in Paris between a penniless English lord and a wealthy young American. They set up pretty happily, and as they are thinking, with no illusions. But because there is this unavoidable distance between them, Filiol and Rita begin to feel uncomfortable with one another - a coolness descends, and an unwillingness to broach difficult matters. His teenage only son by his first marriage, whom Rita gets along with splendidly as she's so much younger, dies in a riding accident. Heartbreak and further awkwardness frosts their relations. All this while they have both begun to realise independently that they care for each other a great deal more than simply conveniently - their mutual but islanded admiration grows. Filiol slowly comes to a change of heart about his flippant, clubbed, gambling life and decides he'll need to start making a contribution. Having degraded estates in Ireland, he decides to go there and begin a process of individual reform of them, in order to show his mettle with difficult territory - who knows what might come of this in time in terms of political service and leadership? Rita stays in England and continues her unobtrusive charitable work. But tact has never been Filiol's strong point. He takes with him an old family friend, the glamorously flirty Eva Ellison, as she has Catholic background and Irish experience, as well as organisational skills. Unfortunately there's something else in her pack - a very long-established liking for Filiol. He also handles his retainers at Balnahown with what can only be called disdain. So he's juggling not only his own foolish lack of empathy, but also Eva's unwanted interest, all the while estranged from Rita. When Rita visits, an affair has blown up from Eva's flirtiness which she 'manages' with all her duplicitous might in order not to be exposed, giving Rita the idea privately that she and Filiol are a great deal closer than was understood. Rita, with her growing but stymied feelings for her husband, is devastated and coldly leaves; Filiol is puzzled but none the wiser. Eva's marriage blows up later in London and she becomes persona non grata in her former circles, having become so already with Filiol. Rita hears express from Ireland that Filiol has been shot by a disgruntled retainer, and races there to be with him - he thankfully survives with a mashed arm, and the impression is that the air will finally clear. Around and behind all of this is a big cast of varying morality and slouchy wit, encompassing all shades from bitchy moralists to unbothered rakes to florid hunters and louche city types. All in all, a knowing, yet idealistic, if not completely balanced, patchwork made in vivid hues.