Love unpaid

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Love unpaid (in the English original The Toll-Gate ) is a novel by Georgette Heyer . It first appeared in the original in 1954, the German first edition by Paul Zsolnay Verlag in 1965 in a translation by Emi Ehn . Like most of Heyer's stories, this one takes place in the Regency period (1811–1820).

action

After the end of the wars against Napoleon , enterprising John Staple, former captain of the Dragoon Guards and likely heir to a British peer title, is bored of civil life, which is why, to the horror of his noble relatives, he keeps breaking out and looking for adventure. One evening he reaches a toll gate , which ten-year-old Ben opens for him. The boy is frightened because his father disappeared for a day, so John stays there to take care of the boy and to solve the mystery of his disappearance.

On behalf of the missing Brean, John takes over his duties as a gatekeeper. There he meets the granddaughter of the local squire , Nell Stornaway. The two immediately fall in love with each other. Nell is scared because her cousin Henry and his friend Nathaniel Coate are guests at the country estate of her sick grandfather Kelland , who behave improperly and suspiciously. During his research, John finds out that the two men are involved in the robbery of a transport of gold coins and that the gatekeeper Brean was murdered as an accomplice.

The terminally ill squire Peter Stornaway takes a great liking to John Staple and arranges his marriage to his granddaughter Nell before he dies. There is a meeting planned by John in a cave where the gold treasure is hidden. He is supported by the mugger Jerry Chirk, who has a secret relationship with Rose, the former nanny of Nell Stornaway. Coate and Henry Stornaway are killed in the process. Chirk reaps the reward for the discovery, can finally settle down with Rose as a righteous citizen and take Ben to himself.

people

  • Captain John "Jack" Staple
  • Nell Stornaway
  • Sir Peter Stornaway, the Squire
  • Henry Stornaway, guest on Kellands
  • Nathaniel Coate, guest on Kellands
  • Joe Lydd, groom on Kellands
  • Rose Durward, former nanny of Nell Stornaway
  • Jerry Chirk, mugger
  • Gabriel Stogumber, Bow Street Runner (Police Officer)
  • Ben Brean, son of the gatekeeper
  • Winfried Babbacombe, friend of John Staple

expenditure

The book has appeared in several publishers since 1965 and in numerous editions. The paperback published by Rowohlt for the first time in 1967 alone had a circulation of 170,000 copies.

literature

  • Mary Fahnestock-Thomas: Georgette Heyer. A Critical Retrospective . Prinny World Press, Saraland, Al. 2001, ISBN 978-0-9668005-3-1 , pp. 166-170 .

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