At Cleveland's country villa and later at Temple Grove, Lady Florence Lascelles and Ernest Maltravers are drawn together by a series of rides, river outings, and intimate conversations that reveal a rare meeting of intellect, ambition, and feeling. Florence, brilliant, proud, and lonely despite her rank, confesses her hunger for genuine friendship; Maltravers, usually self-contained, answers with a fierce distrust of "the world" and a rebellious idealism that astonishes her. Their bond deepens as they exchange confidences about duty, conscience, and the price of public life, and Florence comes to admire the moral force behind his guarded exterior. When Maltravers is offered political advancement that would demand compromise, Florence urges him to preserve his integrity, and in a moment of emotional intensity their attachment is exposed. Their engagement follows, but not without doubt: Ernest questions his own motives, while Florence seeks her father's blessing and is met with blunt opposition. Her love, rooted in admiration and imagination, grows more vulnerable as she fears being valued for her fortune rather than herself. As Lumley Ferrers circles them with insinuation and rivalry, the romance remains poised between devotion, ambition, and danger. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.
