Mary Anerley

In the wild and rugged country that is northern England. A local Squire has died but his manor, Scargate Hall, is left to two sisters, Philippa and Eliza, while the squire's son is disinherited. The family lawyer has discovered a problem with the inheritance and needs to apprise the family of the fact. Meanwhile, over a hundred miles away, Mary Anerley of Anerley Farm meets a man who is running for his life and helps him to evade capture. This man's history is a complicated one and throws up many obstacles in the path of true love with Mary.

By : Richard Doddridge Blackmore

01 - Headstrong and Headlong 02 - Scargate Hall 03 - A Disappointing Appointment 04 - DIsquietude 05 - Decision 06 - Anerley Farm 07 - A Dane in the Dike 08 - Captain Carroway 09 - Robin Cockscroft 10 - Robin Lyth 11 - Dr. Upanddown 12 - In a Lane, Not Alone 13 - Grumbling and Growling 14 - Serious Charges 15 - Caught at Last 16 - Discipline Asserted 17 - Delicate Inquiries 18 - Goyle Bay 19 - A Farm to Let 20 - An Old Soldier 21 - Jack and Jill Go Down the Gill 22 - Young Gilly Flowers 23 - Love Militant 24 - Love Penitent 25 - Down Among the Dead Weeds 26 - Men of Solid Timber 27 - The Proper Way to Argue 28 - Farewell, Wife and Children Dear 29 - Tactics of Defense 30 - Inland Opinion 31 - Tactics of Attack 32 - Tactics of Attack 33 - Bearded in his Den 34 - The Dovecote 35 - Little Carroways 36 - Maids and Mermaids 37 - Fact, or Factor 38 - The Demon of the Axe 39 - Battery and Assumpsit 40 - Stormy Gap 41 - Bat of the Gill 42 - A Clew of Buttons 43 - A Pleasant Interview 44 - The Way of the World 45 - The Thing is Just 46 - Stumped Out 47 - A Tangle of Veins 48 - Short Sighs, and Long Ones 49 - A Bold Angler 50 - Princely Treatment 51 - Stand and Deliver 52 - The Scarfe 53 - Buts Rebutted 54 - True Love 55 - Nicholas the Fish 56 - In the Thick of it 57 - Mary Lyth

The story of Mary Anerley opens in the year 1801, at Scargate Hall, "in the wildest and most rugged part of the wild and rough North Riding"; the first chapter being practically a prologue, which sets forth the strangely dramatic death of Squire Philip Yordas just after he had made a will disinheriting his son Duncan. Thus Scargate Hall, when first described to the reader, is the property two sisters, Philippa Yordas and Eliza Carnaby. Mr. Jellicorse, the family lawyer, comes by chance upon evidence of a fatal flaw in the sisters' title to the estate, and rides over to make them acquainted with this unpleasant fact.

In the sixth chapter of the book we are introduced to Anerley Farm, a place about a hundred and twenty miles from Scargate Hall, and the home of Mary Anerley. As Mary rides down the hollow of the Dyke on the same morning on which Mr. Jellicorse leaves Scargate Hall, she falls in with a man who is running for his life from other men who are pursuing him and shooting at him. Acting on the impulse of a moment, she shows him a place where he can hide. This man is Robin Lyth, who as a child was found washed ashore in a little cove north of Flamborough Head, and raised by foster parents. He is on the run from Captain Carroway, a coastguard officer. Love blossoms between Mary and Robin Lyth, but many obstacles interfere with true love's course.