Miss Cheney's Charade

Miss Cheney's Charade
BY EMILY HENDRICKSON.

PUBLISHED BY ROBERT HALE LONDON.

ISBN 978-0-7090-8273-6.







Set in the year 1815 Miss Emma Cheney was not at all the usual young woman of her time, she longed for travel and adventure.

One morning seeing a letter for her brother George, who was away at a dig, enjoying himself, she opened it and found it was an invitation to view an Egyptian Mummy being unwrapped at Sir Peter Darcy’s home. She is so excited at the thought of so rare an occasion that she determines to dress in her brother’s clothes and attend the viewing as he was away. Dare she do such an outrageous thing, if found out she would probably be ruined, because for a woman to be so bold was unheard of, in that age.

Lady Titheridge, Sir Peter’s aunt, held a musical evening to which Emma and her mother were invited. Emma found the evening much to her taste, not for the music, but for the unusual objects which Lady Titheridge had collected from her travels around the world. Emma studied them with delight and longed to sketch them. During the evening Mr George Brummell a notable leader of fashion and the Ton, engaged Emma in conversation and was pleasantly surprised at her knowledge of the unusual items on show. Emma told him that she longed to sketch them and could spend hours looking at the rare items. She intrigued Mr Brummell and he spent some time with her, which was of course noticed by all, at the musical evening.

Emma was invited back to Lady Titheridge’s home, where she drew some of the items, which were on show, the drawings were excellent and she was invited back to visit whenever she liked, to record some more items.

The day of the unwrapping of the Mummy, arrived, Emma stole away from her house early with a bag of her brother’s clothes. She was going to Lady Titheridge’s home first and hoped that she would be able to change there, into her brother’s clothes. In Lady Tirheridge Emma had found a kindred spirit and letting her into some of her secret she was able to not only change her clothes but was assisted by Lady Tirtheridge’s maid ,to look more like her brother George.

The unwrapping of the Mummy was exciting for Emma and while watching it she also made some sketches , which Sir Peter noticed her doing, he walked over to her to look at her drawings and was so impressed that he asked her to visit again and record more of the rare objects which his Uncle had collected on his travels and he had now inherited. Emma was excited, but also very apprehensive as to whether she would be caught out in her disguise, but she agreed. Many more visits were carried out, with Lady Titheridge’s help, to Sir Peter’s home. It was to become more and more involved and was Emma beginning to fall in love?? This is an unusual book and worth reading, it is always enjoyable to have something a little different in the story line, I think.

I award this book 4.5 Red Roses.AS