Authors: Deanna Raybourn

Silent Night (6 page)

BOOK: Silent Night

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End Notes

1

THE DARK ENQUIRY, Lady Julia #5

2

DARK ROAD TO DARJEELING, Lady Julia #4

3

SILENT IN THE SANCTUARY, Lady Julia #2

4

SILENT IN THE GRAVE, Lady Julia #1

5

SILENT ON THE MOOR, Lady Julia #3

Meeting the Marches

*Hector March, the Earl March
(b.1817)
His beloved wife, Charlotte, is deceased. He divides his time between his Sussex estate, Bellmont Abbey, and his London home where he is active in Parliamentary debate, particularly over the question of Irish Home Rule. His hobbies are Shakespearean studies and quarrelling with his hermit.

His children are:

Frederick, Viscount Bellmont “Monty”
(b. 1846)
Married to Adelaide Walsingham. Resides in London. Represents Blessingstoke as a Member of Parliament.
Lady Olivia Peverell
(b.1847)
Married to Sir Hastings Peverell. Resides in London where she is a prominent political hostess.
Hon. Benedick March
(b.1848)
Married to Elizabeth Pritchett. Manages the Home Farm at Bellmont Abbey and is acknowledged to be Julia’s favourite brother. His two eldest children, Tarquin and Perdita, make an appearance in two of Lady Julia’s adventures.
Lady Beatrice “Bee” Baddesley
(b. 1850)
Married to Sir Arthur Baddesley, noted Arthurian scholar. Resides in Cornwall.
Lady Rupert “Nerissa” Haverford
(b.1851)
Married to Lord Rupert Haverford, third son of the Duke of Lincoln. Divides her time between London and her father-in-law’s estate near Nottingham.
Lady Bettiscombe “Portia”
(b.1853)
Widow. Mother to Jane the Younger. Resides in London.
Hon. Eglamour March
(b.1854)
Known as Plum to the family. Unmarried. A gifted artist, he resides in London where he engages in a bit of private enquiry work for Nicholas Brisbane.
Hon. Lysander March
(b.1855)
Married to Violanthe, his turbulent Neapolitan bride. He is a composer.
Lady Julia Brisbane
(b.1856)
Widow of Sir Edward Grey. Married to Nicholas Brisbane. Her husband permits her to join him in his work as a private enquiry agent against his better judgment.
Hon. Valerius March
(b.1862)
Unmarried. His desire to qualify as a physician has led to numerous arguments with his father. He pursues his studies in London.

*Note regarding titles: as the daughters of an earl, the March sisters are styled “Lady”. This title is retained when one of them marries a baronet, knight, or plain gentleman, as is the case with Olivia, Beatrice, and Julia. As Portia wed a peer, she takes her husband’s title, and as Nerissa married into a ducal family, she takes the style of her husband and is addressed as Lady Rupert. Their eldest brother, Frederick, takes his father’s subsidiary title of Viscount Bellmont as a courtesy title until he succeeds to the earldom. (It should be noted his presence in Parliament is
not
a perk of this title. Unlike his father who sits in the House of Lords, Bellmont sits in the House of Commons as an elected member.) The younger brothers are given the honorific “The Honourable”, a courtesy which is written but not spoken aloud.

Recipe for March Wassail

Drinking wassail is an ancient tradition. Dating back to Saxon times, the word itself comes from the greeting “
wæs hæl
”, roughly translated as “be you healthy”. In the counties of southern England renowned for cider production, drinking wassail originated as a bit of sympathetic magic to protect and encourage the apple trees to bear fruit. While wassail and other punches were very popular during Regency times, by the later part of the 19th-century, they had been largely supplanted by wines and other spirits. The Marches, however, care much more for their own pleasure than for what is fashionable. They serve their wassail the old-fashioned way, out of an enormous wooden bowl mounted in silver with a roasted apple garnish. Their wassail is, as tradition dictates, served quite hot and is deceptively alcoholic. Proceed with caution.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Core a dozen small apples. (You will only need ten for the wassail, but leftover roasted apples are delicious with cream, yogurt, or ice cream.) Loosely spoon brown sugar into each apple place in a casserole dish with a small amount of water. Bake until tender, approximately 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, gently warm 2 pints hard cider. (This is not available in the juice aisle of the grocery store. It is wonderfully alcoholic and tastes deeply of apples. You can find bottled varieties at wine and liquor stores, but the very best is fermented by apple farmers for their own use. Find one and befriend him. The Marches get their cider at the source from the Home Farm at Bellmont Abbey.) To the warming cider, add four cinnamon sticks, crushed with a mortar and pestle, and four pinches ground cloves. (In a bind, ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon may be substituted for the sticks.) Grate in fresh ginger and fresh nutmeg to taste. Lord March’s secret ingredient is a cup of his very best port, added just in time to heat through.

When the apples are plump and bursting from their skins, remove them from the oven. Put one into a heatproof punch glass and ladle the wassail over. The March family recipe calls for a garnish of a fresh cinnamon stick for each glass.

This recipe will serve six Marches or ten ordinary folk
.

Aunt Hermia’s Recipe for Winter Potpourri

From the French for “rotted pot”, potpourri was originally this damp version preferred by Aunt Hermia. The high moisture content caused the flowers to fade as they decayed, so the mixture was traditionally kept in porcelain jars with pierced lids. When placed on the hearth, the warmth from the fire caused the fragrance of the potpourri to waft through the room.

Layer the bottom of an earthenware crock with partly-dried rose petals. (The depth should reach to the first joint of your forefinger.) Sprinkle with sea salt to cover and add a splash of brandy. On top of this, place a layer of partly-dried lavender mixed with carnation petals. Sprinkle this with sea salt to cover and splash with brandy as well. Continue to layer, repeating pattern of petals and salt and brandy and pack firmly. When jar is not quite full, place a heavy china plate on top. Weight the plate with a clean brick wrapped in linen and seal the crock.

Place on a high shelf or a dark corner and leave it be for two days. On the third day, stir the mixture, then leave to cure for a fortnight. By this time, the petals and salt shall have formed a sort of damp cake. Break this up with your hands, crumbling it gently. To this crumbled cake, add broken cinnamon sticks—two for each layer of petals originally placed in the crock—and half a dozen bay leaves. Add a palmful of carefully dried orange peel and sprinkle over a palmful of powdered orrisroot. Mix gently. Finish with a final splash of brandy and turn again. It is best to leave it be for another fortnight, but if necessary, it may be used at once. Spoon it into a porcelain jar with a pierced lid and place near a source of warmth.