| Martha Leigh and her sister has a happy childhood, but after their parent's death they go to live with an aunt. They have a "season" and Martha's sister manages to find a good husband.
But Martha doesn't, and is forced to take up the job of a governess in a castle in Cornwall. The master of the house is Connan Tremellyn who is a widower whose wife has died under mysterious circumstances. Connan has a difficult daughter called Alvean. She had three governesses in one year. Alvean could get along with the last governess. But she was accused of theft by Connan's mistress (a lovely young lady married to an old squire for his money) and forced to resign. Gradually as Martha gets more involved with the Tremellyn family, she falls in love with Connan in spite of herself. Then she gradually realises that Connan's previous wife Alice could not have run away with the dashing neighbour Geoffry Nanselock. In the meantime she also discovers that Alvean is Geoffrey's daughter. However she convinces Connan that Alvean still needs a lot of love and caring. She also befriends a mentally retarded and neglected child called Gillyflower who is also Geoffrey's daughter. Gilly used to love Alice very much and gradually transfers her love to Martha. Connan falls in love with Martha and they get engaged. Then Martha goes through a period of self doubt regarding whether Connan really loves her or not. She also realises that somebody is trying to kill her and she feels that Connan himself might be involved in the plot. The climax of the story is the unusual ending where Martha is buried up in a long forgotten hole, where she also finds Alice's dead skeleton. Luckily for her Gilly sees where she is buried and helps Connan rescue Martha. They finally get married and live happily ever after. | ||
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Plot & Themes Time/era of story Hidden Identity/Secret Motive Yes Is really... - a criminal (possibly) In love with caretaker or teacher Yes Falling in love with - Nanny Children/Pregnancy Yes Children/Pregnancy: - kid(s) make adults sensitive Main Male Character Profession/status: Age/status: - 20's-30's Main Female Character - 20's-30's Profession/status: Setting Misc setting - Fancy Mansion Writing Style What % of story is romance related? - 60% How explicit is the sex? - descript of kissing Focus of story - Her How much dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog How much sexing? - no sex |
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