Cover artwork of Eleanor Vale generated with OpenAI.
Setting
London. Lincoln’s Inn Fields. Saturday, the twenty-eighth of September, 1678. The eve of Michaelmas. Morning.
The ground floor of the Vale house: two parlors side by side, joined by a connecting door that will not quite close.
The FRONT PARLOR is dressed for wealth. A Turkey carpet. A tall looking-glass. Silver candlesticks blazing at ten in the morning. A bowl of oranges nobody is permitted to eat.
The BACK PARLOR is dressed for the truth. A cold grate. Two hard chairs. A pale square on the wall where a painting once hung.
Characters in this scene
ELEANOR VALE, the daughter of the house
LADY VALE, her mother
HANNAH, the Vales’ maid, and the last of their servants
THE FOOTMAN, hired for the day
MR. CUTBILL, a mercer of Paternoster Row, owed money
SIR ANTHONY CURBWELL, a baronet, owed obedience
Sir Gervase Vale, the master of the house, is upstairs and will not be coming down.
I remember reading about this literary period in school. I enjoyed it, the plays on words, the smart-ass doormen and footmen (when they are away from the wealthy and powerful homeowners).
