The Noble Rogue

Note:    Published in Great Britain under title: Fire in stubble.

Orczy writes here a surprisingly affecting and effective romance, if a tad overblown. Scoundrel meets pure maiden and, after undergoing trial of self-denial, wins her. There's a comedy of mixed-up husbands (the nasty cousin Rupert and the nice but naughty cousin Michael) and an old Pandarus figure, Sir John. Rose Marie, our heroine, is legally married to Rupert from an early age and he pays his ne'er-do-well, ill-used cousin Michael to claim her in his stead. Michael, of course, falls madly for RM, and she for him, but a Scheming Woman alerts RM's bourgeois French father to the deception, and Michael returns to England in disgrace. Orczy rather cleverly makes Rupert a Catholic nobleman at the time of the Glorious Revolution; a victim of Titus Oates and the "Papish Plot." In return for saving his life and standing trial in his stead, Michael insists that Rupert fulfil his obligation to Rose Marie, but matters so fall out that Michael is acquitted (he had counted on being executed) on RM's evidence; and all the good people live happily ever after.