Sabine Baring-Gould - Collected Works of Sabine Baring-Gould

The Collected Works of

SABINE BARING-GOULD

(1834-1924)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2021

Version 1

Browse our Main Series

Browse ou r Ancient Classics

Browse our Poets

Brow se our Art eBooks

Browse our Classical M usic series

The Collected Works of

SABINE BARING-GOULD

By Delphi Classics, 2021

Collected Works of Sabine Baring-Gould

First published in the United Kingdom in 2021 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2021.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 9781913487539

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: sales@delphiclassics.com

www.delphiclassics.com

Parts Edition Now Available!

Interested in Sabine Baring-Gould ?

Did you know you can now purchase the Delphi Classics Parts Edition of this author and enjoy all the novels, plays, non-fiction books and other works as individual eBooks? Now, you can select and read individual novels etc. and know precisely where you are in an eBook. You will also be able to manage space better on your eReading devices.

The Parts Ed ition is only available direct from the Delphi Classi cs website.

Try free Parts Edition downloads

Exeter High Street, c. 1895 Baring-Gould was born in St. Sidwell, a parish of Exeter, on 28 January 1834.

Baring-Gould at the age of five

A NOVEL

This curious suspense novel was the first full length work of fiction published by Baring-Gould, and it came not long after his marriage to Grace Taylor on 28 May 1868. He was of impeccably middle class background indeed, he later went on to inherit the estate of Lewtrenchard, in Devon, from his gentleman father and could boast of justices of the peace, crusaders, and an arctic explorer in his family story. Grace Taylor was the untutored daughter of Joseph Taylor, a dyer in the textile industry; the couple met when Grace was fourteen years old. The marriage certificate shows Grace was literate at the time of the marriage, but that could be the result of the two years intensive tutoring she underwent in preparation for her socially advantageous marriage, arranged by Baring-Goulds then vicar when he was serving as curate, though probably paid for by the groom himself the young woman was sent to live with a middle class family in York to learn genteel manners. The tuition worked well, as it was reported that Mrs Baring-Gould never spoke with a trace of a Yorkshire accent, so complete was her re-education. Despite being an unusual combination socially, it appears to have been a happy marriage, lasting 48 years until Grace predeceased her husband, leaving behind fifteen children (a sixteenth having died before reaching adulthood).

Baring-Goulds first novel borders on the autobiographical in that it tells the story of a middle class man, who falls in love with a mill girl, and it has been reported that he was embarrassed by the novel once it was published and tried to destroy as many copies of it as he could. Certainly, original copies of the book are rare, but thanks to digital publishing it is now much more widely available.

The story is set in a northern industrial town named Sowden and opens with a somewhat heated discussion between a young man (seemingly of good family) named Hugh Arkwright, and a working-class girl named Martha Rhodes. She is berating Hugh for walking out with her cousin, a girl named Annis Greenwell, and not offering to marry her; as she says, Folks is over fond of casting muck. Hugh is staying with his uncle, a mill owner and employer of the girls in question, and his elder is trying to persuade him to marry a local heiress, Miss Doldrums, a nice young girl. In fact, Miss Doldrums is a headstrong and irritating young woman who does not like to be denied her wishes, and Hugh is still more interested in the shy mill girl, Annis. He arranges to meet her in the woods, with Martha as chaperone. At this assignation he formally declares his love for Annis, and asks her to accept him and trust that he can build a life for them both; shyly but joyously, she accepts, and they share a first kiss; but they have been observed by one of the local ladies of better class, Mrs Jumbold, who is appalled at what she sees, and threatens to tell all her friends what a disgraceful situation Hugh has created for himself. Angrily, he rebuffs her and tells her to do her worst, as it will not change his mind.

Sadly, Mrs Jumbold is as good as her word and news of the assignation soon spreads throughout the factory and beyond; but Hugh is unrepentant, and will face all that Sowden had to say, with frank assurance that what he had begun he would go through with. However, he is under no illusion that their feelings for each other will be challenged by the scandal; he must face the wrath of his uncle, the mill owner, and Annis faces endless teasing from her workmates. Can their love survive this maelstrom?