Dearth and the Maiden

Example 109

Our heroine, fallen among gentleman highwaymen, is restrained by her own modesty and seemliness.

The following example, indebted to the late Georgette Heyer, is suggestive:

"Dearth and the Maiden"
The Chequers Inn is a room. "The room is panelled and ceilinged in oak, with blue curtains to the windows and blue cushions on the high-backed settle by the fire."
An oil painting is in the Inn. "An oil painting hangs upon one wall, a lascivious work from the Indies in which a very bendy, sloe-eyed courtesan - but no."
A man called Mr Carr is in the Inn. "Standing bashfully aside is one Mr Carr, who we have been led to understand is by profession a Highwayman (yet whose visage oddly recalls Lord John Carstares, disgraced eldest son of the Earl of Wyncham)."
Kissing Mr Carr is unmaidenly behaviour. Doing something to the painting is unmaidenly behaviour.
Instead of unmaidenly behaviour in the Inn, say "How unmaidenly! Why, one might just as wantonly strip a rose of its petals, letting each fragrant leaf flutter slowly to the ground."
Test me with "examine painting / take painting / kiss mr carr".
Test me with "examine painting / take painting / kiss mr carr".
Chequers Inn
The room is panelled and ceilinged in oak, with blue curtains to the windows and blue cushions on the high-backed settle by the fire.

An oil painting hangs upon one wall, a lascivious work from the Indies in which a very bendy, sloe-eyed courtesan - but no.

Standing bashfully aside is one Mr Carr, who we have been led to understand is by profession a Highwayman (yet whose visage oddly recalls Lord John Carstares, disgraced eldest son of the Earl of Wyncham).

>(Testing.)

>[1] examine painting
How unmaidenly! Why, one might just as wantonly strip a rose of its petals, letting each fragrant leaf flutter slowly to the ground.

>[2] take painting
How unmaidenly! Why, one might just as wantonly strip a rose of its petals, letting each fragrant leaf flutter slowly to the ground.

>[3] kiss mr carr
How unmaidenly! Why, one might just as wantonly strip a rose of its petals, letting each fragrant leaf flutter slowly to the ground.