Word: anquetil
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Dates: during 1930-1930
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...weekend houseparty at Chevron, the sprawling ancestral manor, comes Leonard Anquetil, polar explorer, the type of free intelligence beloved by H. G. Wells. Anquetil watches the "set" at play, but himself hangs aloof, speculating. He learns of the other guests' boudoir intrigues, all artfully manipulated by his hostess. Only in Viola and Sebastian, the children of the house, does he find the strength of noble heritage without the conventions of elegant social horseplay. The pair make excellent companions, and Sebastian leads his visitor in a scamper over Chevron's rooftops, in the course of which Anquetil saves him from slipping...
...Anquetil leaves, and Sebastian pursues his amour with the ageing but resplendent beauty. When scandal threatens, however, she abandons him, though it costs her her heart and her youth. Sebastian roams on darkly, rebellious but ineffective. For a time he finds a pretty young middle-class doctor's wife refreshing, until her bourgeois virtue thwarts him. Later he loves a hard-headed little model for her honest kindness, and there is mention of a game-keeper's daughter. His only steadfast affection is for Chevron, its venerable house, its loyal tenantry, even its exhausting duties. Increasingly the proprieties grow upon...