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The Noble Jilt

Constable and Co., 1923.

Margaret de Wynter, after becoming engaged to Count Upsel, a wealthy, elderly and scholarly gentleman, decided that life with him would he dull, and broke her engagement. At the instigation of his sister Helen, Margaret turned again to Mark Steinmark, a discarded suitor who had become the leader of the rebellious Republicans in Bruges in 1792. Mark, however, was so engrossed with the movement that he had no thought of marrying, and she renewed her engagement to Count Upsel.

Notes

Written in 1850 but not published until 1923. The prototype, very much removed, of the story of Alice Vavasor and John Grey. The play was probably never staged, although in The Eustace Diamonds - Mrs. Carbuncle is reported to have attended a performance.

...a comedy, partly in blank verse, and partly in prose.... The plot I afterward used in a novel called Can You Forgive Her? I believe that I did give the best of my intellect to the play, and I must own that when it was completed it pleased me much.... The dialogue ... I think to he good, and I doubt whether some of the scenes he not the brightest and best work I ever did.