The Forger's Wife
By John Lang
1856
First Published
3.50
Average Rating
208
Number of Pages
The Forger's Wife (also known as Assigned To His Wife and The Convict's Wife) was serialised in Fraser's Magazine in 1853, and published in book form in 1855. It opens in England, with its young heroine, Emily Orford, falling in love with a - at least to the reader - self-evident scoundrel going by the name of Captain Reginald Harcourt. Also self-evidently, the Captain's interest in Emily revolves around her father's fortune, and consequently he persuades the innocent girl to elope with him. Alas for his ambition, the Orfords are ruthlessly prompt in cutting their only child off without even the proverbial shilling; and alas also, he barely has time to adjust to this setback before he is arrested and charged with forgery. Emily is horrified, but convinced that it is a case of mistaken identity; particularly as "dear Reginald" is convicted under the name of Charles Roberts. When he is sentenced to transportation, she determines to follow and find him. In her journey to Sydney she has the assistance of the ship's captain, who sympathises with her youth and innocence, and fears for what she might find at the end of her journey. In fact, it turns out that Roberts has done a runner, and is a wanted man with a bounty of ten pounds on his head. When he is unable to convince her to return with him to England, Captain Dent helps Emily to rent a small cottage, where she supports herself by doing needlework, and later by teaching music and dancing. An assigned convict by the name of Nelson encounters Roberts, and tells him that Emily is in Sydney, offering to take him to her for a consideration. However, Nelson's real plan is to inform on Roberts to the famous constable and thief-taker, George Flower, and split the reward with him. A reader of men, Flower takes Roberts' measure in a moment—-but he also takes Emily's, and silently appoints himself her protector. She is in need of one: she has caught the eye of a corrupt and brutal police magistrate called Brade, a man used to getting his own way by any means; and suddenly Roberts sees in his innocent and loving wife his ticket to freedom...
Avg Rating
3.50
Number of Ratings
20
5 STARS
25%
4 STARS
20%
3 STARS
35%
2 STARS
20%
1 STARS
0%
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Author
John Lang
Author · 7 books
Born in Australia in 1816, John Lang - novelist, newspaper editor and barrister, now best known for having defended the Rani of Jhansi in court against the British East India Company - spent a large part of his ife in India, and died in Mussoorie in 1864. A keen traveller and observer of human nature, Lang was also a raconteur par excellence. His grave was found after much tribulations in the cemetry on Camelsback Road in Mussoorie by none other than the ace writer Ruskin Bond himself.
