The Official Essex Sisters Companion Guide (20 page)

Felton, Phineas “Phin”—future Earl of Barnett
—
Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure
(b. 1818)

The son of Mr. and Mrs. Lucius Felton, and future Earl of Barnett, Phin is a sensible, calm boy who takes after his father. He is last seen at age thirteen in the bonus chapter that takes place ten years after
Pleasure for Pleasure
, having succumbed to a sartorial trend that involves wearing a fringed cravat that he twists and sticks through his buttonhole. As his mother says, it looks ridiculous.

Flambeau, Monsieur
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Ewan’s French cook, whom his factor, Mac, found and lured to the Highlands for quite a large salary. He probably would have left during his first winter, except he fell in love with Mac’s sister. They now have two children, but Ewan still has to raise Flambeau’s salary every time the snow goes over five feet.

G

Gemima, Miss—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Gemima is the only daughter of a younger brother of the Duke of Smittleton, who made a fortune in shipping. She is unmarried and enormously rich, so she does precisely as she pleases. She is wildly fashionable, with hair of an extraordinary striped, tortoiseshell color. We learn that she was once lovers with the august and severe Lady Emily Blechschmidt, but the next thing we know, she’s off on a trip with Sylvie. Which casts an interesting light on Sylvie’s dislike of Mayne’s kisses.

Godwin, Countess—Helene Holland
—
Your Wicked Ways, Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke, Kiss Me, Annabel, Pleasure for Pleasure

The Earl of Mayne once believed himself in love with the countess, Helene. Just a few months prior to
Much Ado About You
she rejected Mayne for her scoundrel of a husband. Eloisa says that she had no intention of bringing Mayne forward from
Your Wicked Ways
, but after the Helene debacle, he had a large fan club that wanted him to find true love at last.

Godwin, Earl—Rees Holland
—
Your Wicked Ways, Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke, Kiss Me, Annabel, Pleasure for Pleasure

Once an adulterous husband to Helene, who lived with strumpets and caused scandal after scandal, in
Your Wicked Ways
, a novel that Eloisa wrote before the Essex Sisters series, he changed his ways and swept his wife off her feet . . . and into his bed.

Graystock, Lord
—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Lord Graystock is a shaggy fellow with a cheerful face and a sharp nose, a possible spouse for Griselda. Darlington points out that Lord Graystock “resembles nothing more than an amiable badger, given that white streak in his hair.” He says that if Griselda married Graystock, the two of them could settle in the country and set up a badger run. As always when it comes to rudeness, Darlington has a sound motive: he wants Griselda for himself.

Gregory
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Gregory is eleven years old and the Earl of Ardmore’s adopted son. His character changes somewhat from the published version of
Kiss Me, Annabel
to the unpublished, alternate ending.

                       
“He’s up at the crack of dawn, singing lauds at the top of his lungs. And believe me, while I’m well aware of the existence of boy choirs, Gregory would not be a happy addition to such a group.”

Kiss Me, Annabel

Grimaldi, Joseph
—
The Taming of the Duke

Joseph Grimaldi (1778–1837) was a famous London clown who performed in pantomimes. Rafe apparently watched his performance of “Hot Codlins” and said he believed that his rendition could give Imogen and the lovely Cristobel a run for their money.

Grone, Harry
—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Harry is a journalist who had been pensioned off by
The Tatler
, who said they weren’t doing his sort of journalism any longer. But suddenly, out of the blue, they need someone to find the author of
The Earl of Hellgate, or Night Scenes Amongst the Ton
. Harry succeeds, naturally.

H

Hawes, Miss Loretta
—
The Taming of the Duke

Loretta is an actress, whose father left her all the profits of a lifetime’s worth of thievery. She wins a place at the Covent Garden Theatre, until Gabe accidentally knocks her down with his carriage (an incident that Eloisa took from historical record, as noted in
Part Three
). When she loses her spot due to the injury, she is promised a lead role at the Holbrook Theatre.

                       
“Her father was a wealthy burglar who left her his fortune. She was raised by an aunt, but the moment Loretta turned eighteen years of age . . . she set up her own household. . . . She has a fierce passion for the stage.”

The Taming of the Duke

Holbrook, Duke of—Raphael (Rafe) Jourdain
—
Much Ado About You, Kiss Me, Annabel, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

Rafe is a tall man with a messy shock of brown hair falling over his brow, making him look a bit like a wild man. His eyes are a curious sort of a gray-blue with a bit of sadness. He doesn’t look or act like an aristocrat—being unkempt and dressed in thread-worn clothes. He refuses to be called anything but his Christian name and not by his title because he believed it belonged to his deceased brother. His lingering sense of survivor guilt is integral to understanding his character and his addiction to alcohol.

Hunks, Harry
—
The Taming of the Duke

Harry doesn’t appear in the series, except in Gabe’s memory. Gabe was six years old when Harry pointed out the obvious in the schoolyard, that Gabe’s mother was light-frigate, a doxy, and a drab.

                       
Gabe had promptly knocked Harry to the ground. He stood over him, knuckles stinging and his right knee bleeding, feeling rather triumphant because Harry had at least a stone’s weight on him. Then Harry looked up at him through a rapidly swelling right eye, and said: “I don’t care. Your mother’s no better than a chipper. My da said so.”

The Taming of the Duke

J

Jersey, Lady
—
The Taming of the Duke

Lady Jersey, Sarah Villiers (1785–1867), had the nickname “Silence” because she was such a gossip. Imogen tells Josie you can’t expect every woman to be as slim as Lady Jersey.

Jourdain, Luke
—
Future Duke of Holbrook
—(b. 1820)

Son of the Duke and Duchess of Holbrook.

K

Kettle, Mr. and Mrs. (Peggy)
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

The Kettles are a young couple whom Annabel and Ewan meet on their way to Ewan’s home in Scotland. The couple is expecting their first child. Interestingly enough, they exist only in the published version of the book; Eloisa’s first manuscript goes in a completely different direction, and Annabel and Ewan spend no time in the Kettles’ cottage.

L

Langham, Baby
—(due Christmas 1831)

Baby of Lord and Lady Mayne.

Langham, Lady Cecily
(deceased)—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Mayne’s Aunt Cecily had been born too early, so she was lame from birth and had weak lungs. She loved nothing more than to read books and she fancied herself a princess. Unfortunately, she died before Mayne was born, but even so she had a tremendous effect on his life. He maintains the glass fairy balls that hang in his back garden in her memory.

Langham, Lady Cecily
—
Pleasure for Pleasure
(b. 1821)

Daughter of Lord and Lady Mayne, named after Mayne’s Aunt Cecily.

M

Maclean, Mr. “Mac”—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Mac is a slight, bespectacled man with sweet brown eyes and an eternally harassed expression. He is the Earl of Ardmore’s factor; on the way to Scotland, Mac travels ahead of the caravan and arranges details at each stop. Mac and Ewan have been together for years. (A reminder, Eloisa points out, of the incredible importance of servants in supporting the way of life of a Regency aristocrat.)

Maitland, Lady Clarice
(deceased)—
Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke

Lady Clarice’s land runs parallel to the Duke of Holbrook’s estate. She is the widowed relic of a baron, and the force behind the engagement of her son, Draven Maitland, to Miss Gillian Pythian-Adams. Clarice is heartbroken when Draven passes
away and she herself dies soon thereafter. Doctors say that people can’t die of grief, but parents know better.

Maitland, Lord Draven
(deceased)—
Much Ado About You, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

Draven had been betrothed for over two years to Miss Gillian Pythian-Adams without ever progressing to the altar. He is singularly beautiful, with a wide square jaw, a little cleft in his chin, and almond eyes. More pertinent, perhaps, he’s not only horse-mad, but a rabid gamester. One of his better qualities (of which he has few) is that he doesn’t take offense quickly—a trait that had probably kept him alive during a lifetime crammed with well-earned insults. But in the end, his reckless nature leads to his demise.

Marge, Aunt
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Imogen’s smile has a dangerous resemblance to that of Ewan’s aunt Marge, who once broke half a set of Spode china. Against his uncle’s head.

Margery, Lady
—
Much Ado About You

Lady Margery is Lucius’s mother. Her father was the Earl of Devonshire, but she rarely uses the title Lady Margery. She is not a nice woman.

Mayne, Earl of—Garret Langham—
Your Wicked Ways, Much Ado About You, Kiss Me, Annabel, The Taming of the Duke, Pleasure for Pleasure

Garret Langham, the Earl of Mayne, is a typical English lord: sleek and faintly dangerous, with exquisite manners. His face has the graceful, sweet lines of an aristocrat, with the beauty of an altar boy grown to full adulthood. At the beginning of
Much Ado About You
, Mayne is experiencing a slow burn due to the astonishment of being rejected by the Countess Godwin (see
Your Wicked Ways
). He continues in a black mood
throughout the book, but has cheered up considerably by
Pleasure for Pleasure
, when he marries Miss Josephine “Josie” Essex.

McKenna, Rosalie Mary Malcolm
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Years ago, Rosy was betrothed to Ewan, the Earl of Ardmore. In a horrible turn of events, Rosy was sent to the earl in a carriage that was intercepted by ruffians. She wasn’t recovered until a week later. Rosy’s story differs markedly between the published and unpublished versions of
Kiss Me, Annabel
.

Metta, Miss
—
The Taming of the Duke

Miss Metta is a governess for the children of Imogen and Rafe, the Duke and Duchess of Holbrook. She’s not particularly stalwart, and (Eloisa says), she later moved on to a less exuberant household.

                       
“Mama!” Imogen turned around. Her firstborn child, Genevieve . . . lowered her voice in the important way of a seven-year-old who understands proprieties. “Miss Metta has had palpitations from excitement, and now Luke is running about with his pants below his knees!”

                            
Imogen curtsied to Griselda and Lady Blechschmidt. “If you’ll forgive me, ladies, I’m afraid there’s a domestic crisis behind stage.”

The Taming of the Duke

Mitford, Countess
—
Kiss Me, Annabel, Pleasure for Pleasure

Lady Mitford holds only one party a year, and it’s not to be missed. Her events are wildly anticipated by every member of the
ton
lucky enough to receive an invitation. In
Kiss Me, Annabel
, Lady Mitford’s garden party has a Renaissance theme.

                       
Those who were, for whatever reason, uninterested in mating games enjoyed Lady Mitford’s considerable efforts toward producing true Renaissance cuisine. There was the year, for instance, when a pie was split open to reveal five cross and extremely undercooked doves who promptly flew into the air. When one of them dropped a noxious substance on the head of an upstart young lord, the pie was deemed an enormous success.

Kiss Me, Annabel

Mitford, Lord
—
Kiss Me, Annabel

Lord Mitford is proud of his lady’s annual event, though sometimes he privately bemoans the more dramatic aspects of her ideas. His plump physique is not flattered by Renaissance clothing, for example, particularly by canary-yellow stockings. What’s more, he would rather not greet his guests seated on a gilded armchair with a suspicious resemblance to a throne (Mitford is well aware that he looks about as regal as a carnival barker). And he doesn’t care for the small monkey tied to Lady Mitford’s chair with a silk ribbon. As he tells his friends later, that monkey shat all over the garden. But he’s a cheerful fellow who loves his wife, so he endures yellow stockings and incontinent monkeys.

Mucklowe, Lady—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Henrietta, Lady Mucklowe, is a consummate hostess who knows exactly what it takes to make a ball into a tremendous success: a single stroke of genius. Her biggest success so far occurred when she invited Lord Byron to read aloud his favorite love poem, bringing every wanton woman in London to her doors.

Mucklowe, Lord—
Pleasure for Pleasure

Lady Mucklowe’s husband, Freddie.

Freddie could be seen as the spur behind Henrietta’s brilliant party-planning skills.

                       
Henrietta Mucklowe told herself for the fortieth time that if she had been lucky enough to have a more interesting spouse, she wouldn’t have such imaginative parties. Because if Freddie weren’t Freddie, they might actually have something to talk about at home, and she wouldn’t spend most of her time dreaming about fantastic entertainments.

Pleasure for Pleasure

N

Nash, John
—
Much Ado About You

John Nash (1752–1835) was a British architect and landscape designer. Lucius hired Nash for a few years to completely redesign his country estate, Strawberry Hill.