And now THE TOLL-GATE. The Toll-Gate was published in 1954, in between Cotillion and Detection Unlimited (both 1953) and Bath Tangle (1955).

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Illustrated London News (14.8.1954):
“Here big John Staples, bored with the Army after Waterloo, and bored stiff by the common round, loses his way in Derbyshire... The story has nice, effective bit of pot-holing, a great abundance of thieves' cant, and the accustomed charm.

Birmingham Daily Post (10.8.1954)
The principal impression created by this story is that Miss Heyer’s knowledge of regency slang is encyclopaedic. Almost every speech is full of it, and she hardly repeats herself. Some of the phrases used are crystal clear in their meaning....

...but others remain tantalisingly obscure to modern ears. For the rest it is a well-tried pattern cunningly reclothed.

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It was dramatised on the BBC Home Service as part of Saturday Night Theatre on 8 March 1958, with Denis Goacher as John Staple and June Tobin as Nell Stornaway; and again on Radio 4 on 20 July 1974 with Colin Fisher and Elizabeth Bell. Both dramatisations were by Cyril Wentzel.

Here’s a bit of the Radio Times from February 28 1958 with details of that first dramatisation broadcast on March 8 1958:

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The Toll-Gate starts with one of those first chapters so beloved of Heyer which involve lots and lots of people, and the reader wondering “Do I need to work out who everyone is?”

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I am intrigued by the use of the name Saltash. It’s the name of the “hero” in Charles Rex by Ethel M Dell; the plot of These Old Shades was influenced by Charles Rex. (I had to read a LOT of Dell for research a few years ago - I wouldn’t recommend it.)

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Saltash has gathered his family - or at least the Staple side (not the Timbercombes) to his house, Easterby, to meet his prospective bride, the Lady Charlotte Calne.

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So there are twenty persons to dinner at Easterby - and there is an enormous epergne in the centre of the table. Unlike in The Quiet Gentleman, we don’t get a description of said epergne, but I think we can assume it’s of similar provenance.

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Among a list of relatives, we start to see one standing out - John, a retired Captain of Dragoon Guards, heir-presumptive to the Earldom, who won’t stand on precedence, and is careless of his dignity, with easy manners.

CALM DOWN EVERYONE.

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John has returned from campaigning in the Peninsula. He sold out in 1814, but re-enlisted in the army as a volunteer, once he heard that Napoleon was again at large, was promoted, and has earned the nickname “Crazy Jack”. He’s 29, unmarried, and large.

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Saltash thinks it high time Captain John Staple were married, and wonders why his (John’s) mother hasn’t facilitated this.

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Heyer stresses how enormous everyone is. John is a giant; and Lady Charlotte Calne says to Saltash “How very big your cousins are! They are all very good-looking: exceptionally so, I fancy.” This pleases Saltash.

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And can I just point out that I am trying not to look at the chat at the moment in order to get on top of the plot but my notifications tell me that SOME OF YOU are ALREADY misbehaving about the Captain.

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Saltash tells us that “John is a fine fellow, isn’t he? Everyone likes John!”

I’m getting a sense of HUGO here, with just a touch of “Martin Is A Very Good Shot”

Not as fine as HUGO of course. *ducks*

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Saltash’s bride to be, Charlotte, is rather dull, and many of his relations aren’t impressed by his choice. Captain Staple says that she might suit Saltash very well, but “she wouldn’t suit me!” And he regrets he agreed to attend this “horrid party”.

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The Archdeacon asks John “you great creature” (rude) when they will be celebrating HIS approaching nuptials?

“Not yet, sir: I’m not in the petticoat line,” says John.

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Lovely Heyer line here that tells us all we need to know:

“Lucius, following the direction of [John’s] horrified gaze, saw that a footman had entered the Saloon, tenderly bearing a gilded harp.”

Charlotte is to entertain the company.

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Some of the gentlemen conspire to disappear and play whist, but John says no, “we must - shall! - stay and listen”.

Which is polite; and he behaves impeccably.

#Manners

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John’s family is not particularly enjoying the house party. John’s sister Fanny is worried that cousin Letty is flirting with John, putting a scheme to bring him together with an as yet unseen lady called Elizabeth in jeopardy; and his mother is bored.

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But Mrs Staple tells Fanny:

“Depend upon it, your brother is very well capable of choosing a wife for himself.”

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John joins his mother and sister. Mrs Staple asks him whether he agrees that this is “the most insipid party that ever was given?”

And John does agree and wonders if they will mind if he leaves in the morning. He’s already made his excuses to Saltash.

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Mrs Staple and Fanny will need escorts for their journey home, so John will go off on his own with what he needs in his saddlebag.

A sure sign of a Heyero - they don’t travel with a lot of luggage and can do without a valet!

Again, CALM DOWN THERE.

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Fanny is ENRAGED that John - “the most vexatious creature alive” - can just leave and be vague about his plans and not be available to meet the unseen Elizabeth, while Mrs Staple just accepts it. He’s a man of nine-and-twenty and not in leading strings.

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“All men are odiously provoking” says Mrs Staple.

Discuss.

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As you know, I haven’t read The Toll-Gate before and I found Chapter One a challenge. I hope I haven’t missed anything VITAL. I took the view that it was one of those first Heyer chapters where you need to accept you won’t unpick all the relationships.

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According to Joan Aiken Hodge, Heyer intended to have another plot thread about John Staples succeeding to the earldom, which explains why the first chapter is so odd. JAH says that “Heyer meant to go back and rewrite this scene, but never did.”

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I was trying to look this up without seeing too much of the plot!

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Anyway, that’s Chapter One done.

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Jack stays up with some of his male relatives playing faro and loo - even though he is not a gamester. We learn about his character when he says that “I would order things as I liked in my own house” rather than staying up late at play to please guests.

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And John helps the Earl keep things in line and “he did contrive to prevent the quiet game of loo from becoming an extremely noisy game of loo”.

He clearly has the skills of quiet but determined persuasion. Very competent.

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He also disposes of his drunken younger relatives with ease - presumably using his experience of dealing with young army recruits.

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All John’s efforts mean a late night, so he does not leave Easterby until past noon.

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Fanny and Saltash try to persuade John not to leave Easterby because:
the sky threatens bad weather
he could not hope to acheive more than a few miles
he would do well to abandon the whole project of riding to Leicestershire

#HeyerList
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Rain isn’t going to stop a soldier who has bivouacked in the Peninsula and the Pyrenees; and John would rather go for a night at an inn than stay for another grim evening at Easterby.

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John’s horse is loaded up with
a heavy frieze cloak
a bag with everything in it
loaded pistols

A couple of portmanteaux are sent on ahead to Leicestershire where John is headed. Allegedly.

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And there’s some valet rivalry about John going off on his own with very little luggage.

With some truly indecipherable cant in it. Where are Crimplesham and Polyphant when you need them?

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John is being vague about what he plans to do and where he plans to go - I suspect he isn’t going to end up going to Leicestershire even though that’s his stated plan.

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As Cocking says, “Resty, very resty! If you was to ask me, I should say we shall have him up to some kind of bobbery in just a brace o’snaps!”

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Heyer tells us that Army life suited John. “Life in the Peninsula had been uncertain, uncomfortable, and often haphazard, but it had offered him almost every kind of adventure, and John had refused none of these. He had enjoyed himself enormously.”

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John draws a distinction between being in the Army at war and in peacetime. So when peace comes he sells out of the army, but is restless in civilian life, and even takes up with free traders (which is exactly the opposite of what HUGO would have done)

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To be fair, the taking up with free traders was by accident, but as his relatives would say, John would, wouldn’t he?

“I cannot conceive how it comes about,” says Fanny. “Oh, I WISH he would not do such things.”

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Knowing that John is a likeable fellow, Fanny and Mrs Staple set about trying to find him a wife. And candidate after candidate did they place before him. He likes them all. And doesn’t ask any of them to marry him.

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John tells his mother that he would like to get married but he doesn’t want one of those dashed SUITABLE marriages. “I don’t mean to offer marriage to any girl who don’t give me a leveller. So I daresay I shall remain a bachelor.”

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Mrs Staple - who seems a good sort - says that John would have done better in olden times when he could have rescued a girl from a dragon or ogre.

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“Famous good sport to have had a turn-up with a dragon. As long as you didn’t find yourself with the girl left on your hands afterwards.”

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And John reckons that the rescued girls would have been dead bores and the dragons would have been very glad to be rid of them.

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Fanny has identified the unseen Elizabeth as a suitable bride for John, and Mrs Staple agrees. Elizabeth is:
dark
decidedely handsome
respectable of fortune
assured beyond her years (nearly 20)
experienced in caring for her mother
quality

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So Fanny and Mrs Staple invite the unseen Elizabeth to stay - and what does John do? John goes off on his own, that’s what John does.

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John is in Pennine country, liking the wild moorland, and getting away from pike roads, and civilisation generally. He’s heading for Chesterfield - but his horse casts a shoe, and he’s miles from anywhere.

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John eventually makes his way to a village with a forge, rouses the blacksmith, and has some ham and eggs and a Spanish cigarillo. The rain falls steadfastly. The landlord of the village ale house gives him bad directions to the nearest inn.

#WAINLHAE
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It rains and rains.

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John sees a light ahead and realises it is likely to be a lantern hung upon a toll-gate. No-one seems to be about, but eventually, a diminutive gatekeeper emerges to undo the gate.

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GATE, I say! Gate! Turn out, there, and be quick about it!

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The “gatekeeper” turns out to be a tear stained, skinny urchin of about 13 years, who tells John he isn’t really the gatekeeper.

“Me dad is.”

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“Frippence, please, your honour, an’ it opens the next two gates.”

“Did your dad leave you to mind the gate for him?”

“Yessir. Please, sir, it’s frippence.”

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The poor young gatekeeper, Ben, has been left alone since his dad went off the day before. And John realises Ben is scared, so he decides to stay and keep him company for the night.

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Ben shows John into a shed, which is full of hens, straw, and a truss of hay. “There were unmistakable signs that Beau was not the first horse to be stabled there, a circumstance which John found interesting.”

#MartinIsAVeryGoodShot
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And Ben makes reference to a Mr Chirk - but we don’t know who he is (at least I don’t, although I have my suspicions).

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Ben decides he likes John, helps him with the horse, and offers rum. He also offers a horse-cloth for John’s horse, saying “it belongs to a friend. He comes here sometimes.” But the friend “don’t like meeting no strangers!”

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John suspects there is a MYSTERY associated with the toll-house....

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Ben takes John back to the toll-house, Jack organises himself a rum bumper, and Ben helps him take off his boots, which helps break the ice between them.

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Ben doesn’t know where his dad is; he’s never left him like this before. John reassures him that his dad will return. He establishes that Ben has a brother, but he is at sea having been press-ganged. Ben doesn’t know of any other relatives.

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Ben has a lively fear of being thrown on the Parish. He believes that if this happens, he will end up working at one of the foundries in Sheffield, a fate he wishes to avoid.

(Reminded me of The Nonesuch)

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John notices that Ben is unsettled by the creaks and noises coming from the rear of the toll-house - and he is terrified of an unidentified HIM!

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John reassures Ben that the noises outside have come from a broom blown over by the wind.

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“He couldn’t get me, could he? Not with a big cove like you here.”

“Of course not. No one could get you.”

Competent AND kind.

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Ben has never seen this mysterious threat - “only his shadder”.

And as well as the mysterious threat, there is also Mr Chirk - and no-one must talk about him.

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The mysterious threat has told Ben’s dad that “if he was to catch me looking at him he’d have me took off to work in the pits.” A very clever threat: this is Ben’s worst horror.

But John says “That’s a fine Banbury story! Your dad’s been hoaxing you.”

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John tells Ben that if the mysterious threat came in and put a sack over his head, he, John, would put a sack over HIS head and hand him to the nearest constable.

And Ben is impressed.

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Ben has overheard the mysterious threat talking to his dad, but he doesn’t know what they were talking about. “I got right under me blanket, cos I knew it was Kim.”

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John knows there’s something havey cavey going on, but he doesn’t know what. So he sends Ben to bed and says he will attend to the gate, even though he’s a flash cove.

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John also retires, and wonders what he will do if the gatekeeper doesn’t return, but he isn’t too worried. He is pretty sure that the gatekeeper has gone on the mop.

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When John wakes up, it’s daylight and there are voices. Ben is holding the gate open for some cows and the boy accompanying them. And Ben looks better in daylight - less scared and more cheerful.

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Ben’s dad has not returned, and Ben asks John what he should do. John realises that Ben has complete faith in him, which is a big responsibility.

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But first, breakfast.


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And then John goes to wash. And makes sure that Ben washes too. And then insists that the toll-house is cleaned.

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John attempts to clean his own boots but realises that “there was more to the care of leathers than he had supposed.”

Vindication for Cocking, Polyphant, Crimplesham, and every single valet who has ever polished boots for a Heyer hero.

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John realises that, rather than continuing his journey to Leicestershire, he will have to spend the day making discreet enquiries into the gatekeeper’s possible whereabouts.

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Ben tells John that if he was going to Sheffield, he would “put his best toge on, and a shap on his head”, but instead he had just loped off as if he was going to the Blue Boar.

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Ben goes off to feed some previously unmentioned pigs, and John is shaving when he hears a shout of GATE!

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There is a gig waiting to come through the gate - driven by a woman accompanied by a middle-aged groom.

John consults the list of tolls, while the groom tells him to “Shake your shambles... Who are you? What are you doing here?”

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And John is about to answer when he catches sight of the woman driving the gig - and he can’t speak.

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The woman is
very tall
nobly proportioned
dressed in a green pelisse that is serviceable rather than fashionable
wearing tan gloves that are a bit old
sporting a plain bonnet with no other trimming than a bow, covering her chestnut hair

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The girl has GRAY EYES which are HUMOROUS.

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“She stared down at him, seeing an unshaven young giant, in stained leathers and a shirt unbuttoned at the throat, with curly fair hair ruffled by the breeze, and the bluest of eyes fixed unwaveringly on her face.”

CALM DOWN THERE.

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JOHN HAS RECEIVED HIS LEVELLER AT LAST.

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The young lady says they are on their way to church, so the toll doesn’t apply. John opens the gate, and the lady drives off, nodding at him kindly “but in the manner of one immeasurably his superior.”

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John HAS to know who the young lady is, so he asks Ben.

“That was only Miss Nell. She’ll be going to Church.”

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Ben is more interested in tricks that various horse can do - so John says - impatiently - that Mr Chirk, who has taught his horse Mollie to do all sorts of tricks should sell her to Astley - a nice reference to Astley’s Amphitheatre I’ll be bound.

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Eventually Ben reveals that Miss Nell lives at the Manor, she’s the granddaughter of the Squire, Sir Peter Stornaway, who is now in poor health.

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John is watching for Miss Stornaway on her return trip, and he has now shaved, is sporting a neatly tied neckcloth, and has put his boots on.

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Miss Stornaway now finds that she is not looking at “a gigantic hobbledehoy, as tongue-tied as he was handsome”, but at a “perfectly assured man who smiled up at her without a vestige of shyness” who explains he’s new.

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Miss Stornaway wants to know who he is - he can’t be Breand’s elder son, and he can’t really be the new gatekeeper. And they exchange words back and forth until she can’t help laughing.

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The groom suspects that there is “something smoky going on here”. John agrees. “The gatekeeper went off two nights ago, and hasn’t been seen since.”

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John invites Miss Stornaway to step down from her gig so he can tell her all about it, and her eyes dance. It seems as though she MIGHT accept the invitation - but the groom intervenes. A thickset man, rather too fashionably attired, is approaching.

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And Miss Stornaway’s mood suddenly changes and she wishes to leave quickly. John goes to open the gate.

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The thickset man says he has come to meet Nell, and wants to escort her home from church.

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“I cannot prevent you from doing so, sir, but I am sorry you should have put yourself to the trouble of coming to meet me. It was unnecessary.”

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John finds that Ben is cooking onions, and decides that they need help. There’s a Mrs Skeffling who comes to clean and cook once a week, and John decides she must come every day. And John will pay.

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John tells Ben he will stay with him until his dad comes back. He’ll need to buy some supplies, and discovers that he can go to Tideswell which is five miles away. And while he’s gone, Ben will muck out Mr Sopworthy’s hen house.

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John tells Ben of his military career and Ben asks him what he should call him. John says “Jack”.

So from now on, we will also call John “Jack”.

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Ben tells Jack he can stable his horse at Farmer Huggate’s barn, and goes off to arrange matters. While Ben is gone, Jack starts to tidy up the toll-house with remarkable efficiency.

Very capable.

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Jack’s housework is interrupted by an imperative voice summoning him to the gate. It is Miss Stornaway!

“Well sir, I’ve come to hear that long story, if you please!”

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“Heavens, how big you are!”

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Miss Stornaway is tall herself, and is used to looking over men’s heads. Jack sympathises - he tells her his sister tells him her height is the bane of her existence.

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“Do you always ride unattended Miss Stornaway?”
“Yes, invariably! Does it offend your sense of propriety?”
“Oh no! ... I’ve thought, ever since I came home, that there’s a deal too much propriety in England.”

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Jack mentions he was in the Peninsula and Miss Stornaway tell him that her brother was also there, and was killed.

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He invites Miss Stornaway to call him Jack - and he calls her Miss Nell!

And then he explains how he comes to be at the toll-house, and Nell says he was kind to stay with Ben.

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Jack can stay at the toll-house for a while - his family won’t be worried about his whereabouts as he has gone off without word before.

“I don’t know how it is, but I get devilish bored with watching turnips grow, and doing the civil to the neighbours.”

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Nell sighs:

“How fortunate you are to be able to escape! I wish I were a man!”

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Nell is tied to the Manor by her responsibilities to her grandfather, her only living family. Her grandfather tried to launch her in society but she DID NOT TAKE because she is “by far too large”.

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When Nell’s Aunt Sophia took her “to Almack’s not all her endeavours could obtain partners for me.”

“I never went to Almack’s,” confides Jack, “till after I had sold out, and my sister dragged me there. To own the truth, I found it devilish dull.”

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Jack suspects that if Nell had been at Almack’s when he was there he might have enjoyed it more - he felt so conspicuously tall among all the shorter ladies.

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Nell’s London season was seven years ago, so I am guessing she’s at least 25. Anyone?

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Jack says that last night he wasn’t planning to stay, but “something happened today which made me change my mind”.

As a first time reader, I’m thinking it’s meeting Nell - but I might be wrong and PLEASE DON’T TELL ME!

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And of course there is still the mystery as to what has happened to Brean - Ben’s dad. And Jack tells Nell of Ben’s fears of a mysterious stranger who visits the toll-house after dark.

A smuggler? A highwayperson? A thief? Again, PLEASE DON’T TELL ME!

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“I have a strong suspicion that he is in some way concerned in Brean’s disappearance. And I have another, even stronger, that there’s something devilish havey-cavey going on here!”

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And that’s all for chapters one, two and three of The Toll-Gate. What a wild ride!

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