The Gambler's Bride

Some of these older stories are quite good, and THE GAMBLER'S BRIDE was a story that I enjoyed very much. Miss Caroline Dysart is a boarder at Miss Harriet Minton's Academy for Young Ladies. Although she is the daughter of a fabulously wealthy man, the term "poor little rich girl" seemed to have been coined just for her. She is tall, thin, not very pretty, does not dress well, and is way over the age where she should have been presented - but it seems that her wealthy papa is too busy in India making money to worry about his daughter - if indeed he remembers that he has a daughter at all. So poor Caroline languishes in her room at school, with no friends, except for a teacher, Miss Isabel, who seems to really care about her, and is always available to lend a listening ear. Oh, Caroline! Isabel is not who you think she is! Isabel concocts a scheme to help her brother and boyfriend escape debtor's prison. It involves a duplicity regarding Isabel - she proposes that her friend, Charles Montague, marry Caroline, but, of course, marry her in name only, because she has a scheme, a scheme that will make them all rich... and poor Caroline the unwitting dupe... This all happens in the first few pages, so I am not giving away much of the story. How this story actually develops makes for a very absorbing read. Does Isabel win in the end? How does Charles fit into this puzzle? Since this is a romance, a happy ending is assured, but there a quite a few pieces of the puzzle that have to fall into place for that to happen. This author seems to have a very polished style of writing, the story flows smoothly, the writing is good, and the characterizations are excellent (if a little stereotypical). I give this four stars instead of five, because I thought some of the plot lines did not go anywhere, and were left hanging, and also, because parts of the story was a little slow paced, for example, we have pages upon pages of Charles ruminating on how guilty he feels, and how sorry he is, I always like when a hero has a conscience, but it does get irritating to the reader after a while. Although I did skip some pages along the way, all in all, this was an excellent story, and a first class read.