Love is Innocent

"The traffic in young girls to North Africa continued all through the nineteenth century and is now, according to reliable reports, centred in the Lebanon." - what Cartland fails to mention is that the trafficking of WOMEN from Asia and Africa to the West is never featured in her books as this would directly point fingers at the 'British Empire'.

"How could it be possible, he asked himself, that he should be in such an intolerable position and at the same time not have foreseen that he was running into disaster? The Duke had been well aware ever since his boyhood that he was one of the greatest matrimonial catches in the whole of the British Isles. Besides all this there were properties abroad, a house in Paris, a château in the Ardennes where he could hunt wild boar (nice afternoon to kill for fun...), a palazzo in Venice and a villa in Monte Carlo. The protocol of Victorian Society made it very difficult for an eligible bachelor to avoid the ambushes that were set for him. To talk to any unmarried young lady alone for more than a few moments was tantamount to offering her marriage. To dance with her twice was to set the gossips’ tongues wagging and a third time was the equivalent of an announcement in the Engagements column of The Times. It was little wonder that gentlemen who wished to preserve their freedom avoided debutantes like the plague and fixed their affections on married women. - so Victorian etiquette effectively forced men to act loose? That's hogwash. Men act out because of patriarchal structures that provide them with every opportunity to play the field without accountability.

Was it possible to own so much and not be happy? - it's like being a Trump in 2020...

Then unexpectedly Lord Wealdon died of a heart attack. Lady Millie was in deep mourning, Queen Victoria having set an example of heavy and prolonged gloom that every widow was expected to follow. It had therefore been difficult for the Duke to see much of Lady Millie although there were a few snatched assignations during the first six months. During the second period things became easier. They had been invited to the same house parties and their hostesses made quite certain that their rooms were not too far distant from each other. - so she was a minor who married someone old enough to be an AGED father and society helped these 'discreet affairs' along... The length of the chaste female's neckline would garner outrage but not people cheating with each other??...

When they reached Monte Carlo, he found that he had an unexpected aversion to making love to her under the very noses of his other guests. He could not explain this sudden revulsion even to himself. It was just that he did not like the knowing look in his men-friends’ eyes, the faint smile on the lips of the other women, the manner in which they took it for granted that he would spend the night in Millie’s bedroom. - he was bored with her. We've seen it with the rich and famous...

He journeyed not towards the Arab part of Algiers where once the bloodthirsty Barbary pirates imprisoned thousands of Christian slaves working in chain gangs, but up through the modern French town to where the white villas were encircled like jewels in a shrine of green. - slavery was all over the world my dear Cartland. A pity you never really focused on the Empire's faults but swept them under the carpet while trying desperately to create an almost mystical sense of religion that pays lip service. For that matter, anyone interested in Europe's history of cannibalism until some way into the 19th century, check: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/europes-hypocritical-history-of-cannibalism-42642371/

“I have no desire for you to take me to the dances of the Aissaoui again,” the Duke said. “Once was quite enough where they were concerned.” Nicholas Vlastov laughed. His Slav blood had not been revolted at the fantastic religious dances, which were often accompanied by the gouging out of eyes, the searings of hot irons, the piercing of cheeks with daggers and the eating of live lizards. - wrong spelling and nothing to do with religion at all but an incorporation of customs and tradition...

“A slave market?” the Duke exclaimed. “I thought that they were abolished when the Barbary pirates were defeated.” “The pirates sold Christian slaves, the majority of them men,” Nicholas Vlastov answered, “but Algerians never change. Today they sell women!” - Chinese and African women were huge commodities as slaves and prostitutes in brothels around the British Empire...

years previously ‘The Criminal Law Amendment Act’ had been passed to make better provisions for the protection of women and children and for the suppression of brothels.

The Bill had been carried by a large majority and it was to be the first of the great battles against what was in effect slavery, but the Duke knew that there must be many more before the law could be effective in controlling what so many people thought was an inevitable condition in large Cities. - don't forget the ties between the monarchy and slavery...

"tiger shoots arranged by the Maharajahs" - barbaric practices!

“I have read the life of Buddha,” Selina declared, “and I feel that there is so much hidden knowledge in the East that would help people to live at peace with each other.” “Mankind is always engaged in wars of some sort,” the Duke said lightly. “Wars are brutal and barbarous!” Selina retorted. She spoke with a note in her voice that made the Duke know that she was sensitive and very vulnerable to anything that appertained to cruelty. - Cartland loves pointing out mysticism and magic about religions in the East 😒😖

It would be nice, he had thought sometimes, to have children whom he could teach to ride as his father had taught him. A son who would go out shooting with him and who would accompany him when he fished for trout that filled the great lake. - and that's where barbaric traditions start and are passed down...

“It – is – horrible! Beastly! I had no – idea that anything like – that could – happen in the world today! ”What you don’t know is that there are always places like the one you were in last night that cater for men who want to be entertained and amused outside their home.” “But surely – only in the – East,” Selina said. “In the West too – in London and Paris and all the great Cities of the world,” the Duke answered quietly. - in Cartland's own words, she is forced to admit the ugly nature of man.

“All men – cannot be like – that,” she said after a moment. “Not Papa! – not – you!” “No, of course not,” the Duke answered soothingly and hoped that he would be forgiven for lying. -the duke was not celibate, from all accounts ge likely had a number of the current STDs...

Kung Fu. - amazing martial art!!

" .... were obliged to go slowly because the Priest’s horse was old and fat," the priest shouldn't have ridden an old horse -unnecessary cruelty.