Having got the Bannerworth family into this frightful predicament, Mr. Rymer realizes that he has not formally introduced them to the reader, a social faux pas in Victorian England.
So, the Bannerworths. Once, they were a wealthy and respected family. But over the last century, the direct line of the family head were rotters and wasters. As a result, the family fortunes had shrunk until they primarily consisted of the ancestral manor house.
Henry's father was an exception to the rule only in not being an outright villain as social reform meant he couldn't just kill his peasants for sport in the old tradition. Instead, he became a Gambling Addict and proceeded to lose money as fast as he could raise it.
Mr. Bannerworth was found dead in the garden, pencil in hand and notebook open. The family believes he felt his last moments coming on, prepared to write a Dying Message, but didn't get any further than the words "The money is~~"
Shortly before his death, Mr. Bannerworth had announced his intention to sell the house and land, for enough money to clear his debts and allow the family to live comfortably in the country. How this was to be accomplished was his secret, and died with him.
(Hmm, I call secret treasure.)
So, for the first time in a hundred years, the Bannerworth heir, Henry, was a scholar and a gentleman. "Brave, generous, highly educated, and full of many excellent and noble qualities." Under the circumstances, the townsfolk expected Henry to get an honest job and repair the family reputation, if not its finances.
He was surprised, some weeks after his father's death, to get an offer on the Bannerworth house from a solicitor (a British attorney that handles pretty much everything but court cases, which are the province of barristers) whose unnamed client offered far more than the house was worth. Henry consulted with his family, and said "no." The offer was changed to leasing the house, with a blank spot for the Bannerworths to set the rent. Still "no."
Okay, other than the extremely suspicious nature of the offer, why not take the money and move to better quarters?
Flashing back further, we learn that a relative of the family had for some years sent one hundred pounds each autumn for the Bannerworth children to go on tours. So it was that a couple of years before the story opened, Henry, George and Flora were visiting Italy.
Flora's horse slipped on a mountain trail and she fell over a precipice and on to a ledge above the abyss.
At this moment appeared a brave young man, who climbed down to the ledge and calmed Flora while her brothers went for help. While they waited, he protected her from a sudden storm.
Understandably, Flora developed a strong affection for young Charles Holland, an artist making a two-year tour of the Continent. As he was himself smitten with Flora, and the brothers liked him, Charles was invited to the Bannerworth homee when he returned to England.
But then the generous relative died broke, and Mr. Bannerworth died worse than broke, so Flora doesn't want to move for fear Mr. Holland won't be able to trace them to a new address. So no sale.
Mr. Marchdale, as hinted earlier, is Mrs. Bannerworth's Unlucky Childhood Friend and a distant relative of hers. Since All Girls Want Bad Boys, she'd picked the most dubious of her admirers, the late Mr. Bannersworth.
She'd stayed married to Mr. Bannerworth for the sake of the children and little else, and when Mr. Marchdale came calling a month after her husband died, the widow invited him to be a long-term guest.
Turns out Mr. Marchdale had never married, and devoted his life to travel and adventure, so had a good store of useful skills and information, as well as an independent income.
Naturally, it would be unthinkable to give money to the Bannerworths to help them out. So Mr. Marchdale has been giving them small but practical presents on any pretext instead.
Now that we're caught up on the background—in the present day, three of the Bannerworths' servants quit, and have to be replaced with lower quality serviles who are so desperate for a job they'll risk vampire attacks.
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At this point, I'm imagining the Bannerworth siblings as the Victorian equivalent of the siblings from Mawaru Penguindrum.
Looking forward to your thoughts and comments, SKJAM!
