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ALL IN THE FAMILY♦You Never Heard Such ‘Fustian’By Sarah Child♦“Hey,” I remarked casually to my young sister the other day as she showed off a new dress, “you’re going to set the ton on its ear”“■Huh,” she answered politely.“You know,” I explained, “set the ton on its ear, set the social circle a whirl, stun the elite.” *“Oh,” shesaid, comprehension“von mpan turn ’emback over a page I’d skimmed too quickly and then rereading it in ofder to chuckle all over again.There was intrigue, the kind of dashing romance that barely let the hero and heroine exchange jl Mss* lilting dialogue and marvelous word pictures of an era I knew so little aboutTen years and some 30 titles later -T- am an avid fan of this.Ja.tte.r-d.ayon.M. “Sure,” I said, unaware for the momentjusr how~deep~a~Jane Austen who handles Britain’s Regency period so realistically that days after putting down one of herstill- talking. like one-.ofI had just put down the 18th Century historical romance I’d been reading. Talk about getting carried away by a book . . .I first ran into Georgette Heyer, the English author, on a book counter long ago where a variety of new, hard bound books had been marked down toT 50 cents a copy.Ordinarily I don’t patronize such sales (not much) but the cover bore critical praise from such sources as the New York Times, The Saturday Review and the Chicago Tribune.The unlikely title of the book is“Sylvester: Or the Wicked Uncle.”fdidnot read it through In one sitting. Instead I found myself goingWhen my husband, for example, asked me if I had seen our new neighbors I said I hadn’t, but told him that I felt we would deal famously together.“They are,” I added as his eyebrows went even higher, “to be felicitated upon acquiring a house of the first water.”“I didn’t know the cellar leaked,” he puzzled.“Don’t talk such fustian,” I admonished him glibly and then warming to my style directed our conversation into other channels,“Understand your friend Joseph iscontemplating marriage with the Fair Mary Jean,” I said conversationally.“Ummm, what got into Joe afterail these years. I’ll never know,” he admitted.„ “I suppose‘you do not think the divine Mary Jean worthy of so signal an honour?” I inquired haughtily.“Well, there goes his Tuesday night card game right down the drain for one thing,” he pointed out.—I never heard suelrfarrago,” T said sternly. “Gaming in any form is to be regarded with the utmost abhorrence.”addjcd^^hiitter.M —entering the familial circle than that Friday-faced creature he engaged in dalliance a fortnight ago at the al fresco party.“Mary Jean,” I pointed out, “puts her to the blush.”Then I noticed that my husband’s face was becoming overheated and he appeared capable only of one-syllable repetitiveness.“My dear,1*.! murmured, soothingly.“there is no need to induge in fruitless ejaculations. It doesn't signify.”And with that I swept grandly into the kitchen to start supper, having misplaced my chief cook, io say rioth-ing of my abigail, the coachman and the upstairs maid.
Newspaper Details
Rochester Courier Journal
Rochester, New York, US
Fri, Jul 18, 1969
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Clara S.
AU 06 May 2021
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