Rossmoyne

At Moyne, two elderly sisters linger over a letter while their tea and hot cakes grow cold. Penelope and Priscilla Blake are expecting Katherine's orphaned children, and the news revives memories of a broken engagement twenty years earlier. Their conversation moves between lasting resentment and small domestic comforts, including a remembered plate of red-currant tart. Duchess gives this romantic novel a conversational narrator who interrupts the scene with jokes and observations.

Monica and Brian Desmond bring a younger generation's feelings into view. In one scene, Monica holds a baby while Desmond arrives uncertain whether she has forgiven him. Mrs. Daly supplies laughter, teasing and a chair beside Monica, making an awkward encounter into a lively social occasion. Family quarrels, jealousy and courtship sit alongside affectionate household detail. Readers interested in romance with comic dialogue can follow how private feelings become visible through glances, gestures and the comments of onlookers.