19. As a fourth-generation tea merchant, Mr. Richard Traviston was the purveyor of fine teas to royalty and the peerage. So, there was no stink of trade in the Travistons’ unique case. Rather, about this mercantile family was the cosy scent of a custom-blended cup of tea from exotic, East Indian sources to which previous Travistons achieved exclusive rights of trade.
20. Classical Latin, not Freud, friends. Defined as libīdō (genitive, libidinis, f, 3rd decl.) meaning: pleasure, inclination, fancy, passion, lust, sensuality, etc. Yeah, I know it’s a Freudian term now, but in the 19th. century it was a perfectly good, familiar Latin noun for desire. Freud borrowed it from Latin, after all, because of its meaning. So loosen up and calm down.
21. See The Duke’s Tattoo, Book One in The Horsemen of the Apocalypse series.
22. Advent can fall any day from Nov. 27 to Dec. 3 and marks the start of the Christmas season.
23. The Waits falls on December 10, or about a fortnight before Christmas
24. It was rumored Lady Petra’s friend had made a lasting impression on a young gentlewoman she met in Kent years ago. This Miss Austen, it was rumored, subsequently became “A Lady” who authored first Sense and Sensibility then Pride and Prejudice, both to much acclaim. Having read the latter novel when it came out several years ago, even Lady Petra was moved to tease Lady Wesley of Miss Elizabeth Bennett’s striking resemblance to her, with her fine eyes, her playful wit and her wealthy, proud husband. Lady Wesley demurred. Lord Wesley’s name happened to be D’Arcy Fitzwilliam, true, but he’d been satisfactorily smitten with her from the outset and therefore perfectly amiable ever after.
25. See The Duke’s Tattoo by Miranda Davis, publ. 2012
26. Lord Seelye’s father was misidentified in The Duke’s Tattoo as the Earl of Exmoor. My bad.
27. In 1816, Beau Brummell famously fled England to avoid debtor’s prison and lived in France for the remainder of his life. He lived first in Calais.
The Baron’s Betrothal: An On-Again, Off-Again, On-Again Regency Romance (The Horsemen of the Apocalypse Series) Page 34