My Particular Friend footnotes: The Bride Who Wasn’t There 5
Beginning with The Story of Edward Gascoigne:
‘My Violet was a young girl of sixteen when she met Gascoigne in Dorset. He was … one and thirty?’ He looked to her for confirmation, which prompted her to speak.
Dorset: a county in South West England on the English Channel coast
‘So I left and found a small house and did well for myself. But Edward’s cousin was unwise and speculated and he lost the house and property, for the entail had ended with Edward’s death and the fortune, the house and the land were his to ruin.
entail: a legal agreement that prevents inheritors of land from selling
‘But he frightened me so. He was no longer a man I could admire and when he demanded … I hit him, with something, I don’t know with what and he fell dead again, or at least I thought him dead. And in my panic, I left the house and him lying dead. I travelled to Bournemouth and took another name.’
Bournemouth: a town in Dorset
‘We met and fell in love. It is as simple as that. But I am poor and I knew I could not support Violet as she ought. However, she had the house and some unclaimed property and we decided that I should travel to Dorchester and see if I could conclude her affairs there.
Dorchester: the county town of Dorset
‘I have left instructions for any correspondence to be forwarded to me in Cardiff,’ Mrs Brown said.
Cardiff: the capital and largest city in Wales, across the Bristol Channel from Bath and Bristol