The Black Moth

 

By Georgette Heyer

A Georgian Romance

Two brothers, John, the oldest and Richard, both gambling at the same club. Richard has lost a lot of money and decides to cheat. Also at the club is Tracy Belmanoir, an unpleasant fellow who spots an opportunity to cause trouble and exposes Richard's cheating. But brother John steps up to protect his little brother and claims he was the one who marked the playing cards when he was in the game just before Richard. 

According to the mores of the time, cheating at gambling is an unforgiveable crime. So John flees in disgrace while Richard is willing to let his brother bear the blame and the consequences of his actions.

Several years later and Richard and John's father has died and John is now the Earl and Richard is in charge of John's family estate. Richard is now married and has a young son. He has no idea where John is or what has happened to him over the years. Then he discovers that John is in England and is going by the name Sir Anthony Ferndale. Eaten up by guilt, Richard begs John to come home and take his rightful place as the Lord of the manor. But John refuses. Richard is eaten up by guilt but every time he talks to his wife about coming clean, she becomes very upset, claiming it will result in their disgrace and exile from polite society.  So Richard always caves.

Meanwhile, John happens upon an abduction. Tracy Belmanoir is trying to capture and carry off a young gentlewoman, Diana, who was traveling with her aunt. John takes on Tracy and they duel with swords and John beats Tracy. But then Tracy pulls out a gun and shots the valiant John.

Diana and her aunt bring John to their home and nurse him back to health. John and Diana fall in love, but John knows the taint of cheating and of his life on his own will not be acceptable to Diana's father and he makes plans to leave and forget Diana. But the vile Tracy once again grabs Diana and carries her off to his manor. So John has to ride to the rescue again.

Meanwhile, Richard has been slowly falling apart due to his guilt for letting his brother suffer for his mistake. He finally resolves to admit he was the cheater, not his brother, John, despite his wife's tears and protests. So at least John gets his happy ending. And Richard's wife realizes that she loves him even though he has gone against her wish to keep quiet about the cheating.

This was an OK read. There is a lot going on in the story and it is lacking in that light touch that makes so many of Heyer's other stories so delightful to read. I much prefer the lighter touch, the stories where a bit of comedy is included. Not much of that in this story.

I didn't know this until now, but apparently this was Heyer's first published novel, written when she was only nineteen. So much can be forgiven of an author who went on to produce many charming and successful romances, romances that brightened many a day for me as a reader.

Here is a review by Aarti on Austenprose.