Elle, I think Miles did take that step – he stood up to his father, which seemed to be difficult for him.

That is true, but he only did this *after* Cynthia had made her move. I kind of got the sense that he was going to allow her to slip through his fingers until she came to him the night before she meant to get engaged to Argosy (or, actually, slip away in the pre-dawn.) I suppose that I am just saying that I wished that Miles had been a little bit more pro-active in securing his own happiness, rather than just reacting to what Cynthia did. But, in truth, that is just a small quibble with the story.

I’m almost going against my instincts here, because if there’s anything that makes my eyes roll out of my head in annoyance, it’s the Noble Self-Sacrificing Heroine. But I really didn’t see Cynthia that way, ultimately – I did see her as making the best choice for her in the end, even if it happened to be the one that consigned her to a life of servitude.

Ah, yes. I think that you are right about that, actually. There was certainly the sense that Cynthia was finding all her role-playing very draining and flat. And quite frankly, despite her best intentions, I doubt that she would have been able to be the good and faithful wife that she hoped to be if she entrapped someone like Argosy, Goodkind or Milthorpe. After all, she had almost deliberately sabotaged her own engagement to the Earl of Courtland (who was the embodiment of all her mercenary and social-climbing aspirations.) She needed someone to keep her interested and on her toes. So I see what you mean in saying that Cynthia’s “sacrifice” was more a choice indicating her growing self-awareness as opposed to romance heroine martyrdom.

Re: Cynthia
Do you think that it was necessary for the storyline for her to be the one to make the first grand gesture for love?

I kind of think it was. I didn’t see her as the self-sacrificing heroine, realizing her wrongs; it was more just that she realized she couldn’t be married to anyone but Miles, so she took the other option open to her. I guess she could’ve been even more pro-active and somehow engineered her and Miles coming together, but I’m glad she at least made a choice – Miles swooped in to save her, sure, but she had already made a choice and I thought that worked better than if Miles had “saved” her before she left.

SPOILERS…..SPOILERS I suppose, since we are talking about the end of the book here.

SPOILERS…SPOILERS….SPOILERS

I see what you are saying here, Jennie, and I don’t disagree, although I am not sure that Cynthia’s decision seemed very much in character with her pragmatic, mercenary nature, so I guess we are meant to understand that she has repented and changed her stripes. Maybe I am not enough of a romantic to feel that one night of True Love is worth jettisoning a lifetime of comfort for one of penury and loneliness. A lifetime of True Love, maybe, but not just one night. (Hmmm, maybe that is why I find Cynthia to be a more sympathetic heroine than many other readers seem to….)

I suppose that it somehow had to be made clear that Cynthia was choosing *Miles* and not just *Miles’ money and position* (and you know that older brother is going to come back at some point, BTW.) But at the same time, it seemed a little unfair to me that Cynthia had to be the one who made the big gesture, since proportionally the sacrifice for her was huge, and Miles seemed unable to take even the small step out of line that he would have needed to gain True Love.

What did you think of her actions at the end of the story? In character or out of character for her? Do you think that it was necessary for the storyline for her to be the one to make the first grand gesture for love?

I kind of think it was. I didn’t see her as the self-sacrificing heroine, realizing her wrongs; it was more just that she realized she couldn’t be married to anyone but Miles, so she took the other option open to her. I guess she could’ve been even more pro-active and somehow engineered her and Miles coming together, but I’m glad she at least made a choice – Miles swooped in to save her, sure, but she had already made a choice and I thought that worked better than if Miles had “saved” her before she left.

And I really loved Cynthia’s conflicted feelings towards Georgina–how her feelings of superiority were tempered by real envy.

Yes. I felt sympathy for Georgina but understood Cynthia’s resentment towards her – it was very real and understandable given the circumstances. I thought Long did a good job of showing how hard it is to be in Cynthia’s position, surrounded by people without financial worries who couldn’t begin to understand her circumsances or appreciate their own.

Oh, I certainly didn’t think Miles was a paragon of virtue, and I wouldn’t have minded if he had acknowledged the parallels between what the two of them were doing more explicitly.

I agree with this, Jennie. Miles did muse once or twice about how his own financially motivated pursuit of Georgina, and Cynthia’s hunt for a wealthy husband were not so dissimilar, but he still felt justified in scolding her for thinking of people in terms of money. Your observation is correct in that a lot of his more spiteful remarks to her are motivated by his own hurt pride and jealousy. He *loves* having the upper hand with her at the beginning of the story and telling her that she is definitely not good enough for *him*, since he is the Redmond heir (perfect vengeance for the injury dealt to his pride by her off-hand dismissal of him at that first ball.)

I was actually very sympathetic to Cynthia’s husband-hunting, since she was motivated by desperation. What did you think of her actions at the end of the story? In character or out of character for her? Do you think that it was necessary for the storyline for her to be the one to make the first grand gesture for love?

I don’t think we’re supposed to see anything but flat out jealousy and prideful hypocrisy in Miles’s judgments of Cynthia. In fact, one of the reasons I liked it so much was that it IMO created much more subtlety in how we saw Cynthia. Instead of seeing her through the adoring eyes of the hero, we see her first through his rejected eyes, then his jealous eyes, then his lusty eyes, and so forth. Cynthia unfolds as a character through all the ways in which Miles does and does not understand her or judge her correctly, and that really worked for me. For me, at least, it added depth to both Miles and Cynthia’s characters.

Yes and yes. And Miles’ changing perceptions of Cynthia are mirrored by Cynthia’s of him. I love their first conversation in the book, particularly when Cynthia first realizes that Miles is aware of her intentions.

Instead he said: “This room must feel rather like Tatersall’s to you, Miss Brightly. What an interesting variety of eligible men are represented. However will you pick one out?”
Miss Brightly went rigid.
A tick of fraught quiet went by between them.
And then she tipped her head slowly up to him, as though balancing a scalding cup of tea atop it. Aware of a grave, grave danger.
And she looked–really looked, for probably the first time–into his face.
What she saw there caused wary reassessment and comprehension to cut across the blue field of her eyes as swiftly as a pair of hunting falcons. They were there and gone as though they had never been, leaving her eyes once again blue fields of innocence.
So she was not entirely a fool. This was a bit vexing, as he would have preferred her to become less interesting, rather than more.

And I really loved Cynthia’s conflicted feelings towards Georgina–how her feelings of superiority were tempered by real envy.

I don’t think we’re supposed to see anything but flat out jealousy and prideful hypocrisy in Miles’s judgments of Cynthia. In fact, one of the reasons I liked it so much was that it IMO created much more subtlety in how we saw Cynthia. Instead of seeing her through the adoring eyes of the hero, we see her first through his rejected eyes, then his jealous eyes, then his lusty eyes, and so forth. Cynthia unfolds as a character through all the ways in which Miles does and does not understand her or judge her correctly, and that really worked for me. For me, at least, it added depth to both Miles and Cynthia’s characters.

I think one reason I wasn’t *as* bothered as I might normally be by the double standard was that I saw Miles as having a pre-existing reason to take issue with Cynthia’s mercenary ways, having been sort of inadvertently slapped in the face with it several years earlier. While later on he seemed sincere in telling Cynthia that he thought she was doing wrong, early on, I thought much of his judgment was the result of plain old jealousy and resentment, which made it slightly more palatable for me.

Well, I was going to say that maybe Miles objected because at least he wasn’t trying to make Georgina fall in love with him – he was courting her, but not necessarily deceiving her. Of course, she was in love with him already, so in a way, what he was doing was worse. But I don’t think Miles knew that Georgina was infatuated with him, so maybe the whole thing was a wash.

Yes, but Miles main motive for courting Georgina was as a means to an end–basically to fund his real passion of exploration. The “preference” that he was showing to her at the house party was as false in its way as the fortune-hunting that Cynthia was engaging in, since Miles was busy arranging assignations with lusty Lady Middlebough, and fooling around with Cynthia.

True, he never pretended to be interested in things in which he was not in order to ensnare Georgina, as Cynthia did to engage the interest of her suitors (although, ironically, *Georgina* did so to try to please Miles.) But at least Cynthia seemed to feel that she would be honor-bound to keep playing the same role if she ever did manage to land one of her suitors on false pretenses. I certainly agree that she was being more than a little underhanded in her methods, but I also think that Miles was not such a paragon of virtue himself.

I thought that Miles was a well-drawn character as well, although I felt that he had a lot of nerve criticizing Cynthia for trying to marry for money when he was essentially planning to marry Lady Georgina to please his father and get funding for his next expedition to Lacao.

Well, I was going to say that maybe Miles objected because at least he wasn’t trying to make Georgina fall in love with him – he was courting her, but not necessarily deceiving her. Of course, she was in love with him already, so in a way, what he was doing was worse. But I don’t think Miles knew that Georgina was infatuated with him, so maybe the whole thing was a wash.