Our Admirable Betty

Missing cherries disturb the orderly household of Major d'Arcy, a veteran now occupied with his garden and a history of fortification. His loyal companion, Sergeant Zebedee Tring, treats even a theft from the favourite tree as a matter requiring a report. Mrs. Agatha, their housekeeper, brings another concern into their comfortable home: she thinks both men would be happier married. These domestic exchanges introduce Jeffery Farnol's historical romance, set among the manners and courtship customs of eighteenth-century England.

Lady Betty also becomes the subject of a gathering's extravagant verses, as gentlemen praise her through increasingly awkward rhymes and interrupt one another with jokes. The scene gives the novel a lively social texture, with elaborate speech, personal vanity and laughter sharing the page. Readers interested in older romantic fiction can find here the contrast between military habits, household affection and the theatrical language of admiration.