Without Any Amazement

Christina Allardyce had promised her 17 yr-old grandchild Jacynth Furnival in marriage to Jonathan Branksome, Jacynth always thought her father Tim Furnival was dead, he was a gambler who married Isobel Jacynth's mother who died giving birth to her. Tim wasn't dead. He had followed her progress all through her life, and when she married Jonathan, her father showed up at their home, under the name of Tom Farrow. It didn't take Jonathan to fall in love with Jacynth, but he kept it a secret, of course not knowing that Jacynth was in love with him. But when Howard and Cynthia Grant came on the scene, Jacynth knew she had no chance to earn Jonathan's love since he loved Cynthia, or so she thought... From the back of the book: 'Jacynth was eighteen, and literally just out of the schoolroom, when Jonathan Branksome married her. He hardly knew her, but drastic measures were necessary to protect her from being exploited by a heartless wastrel, and Jonathan knew he was the right man to guard her interests. Love did not come into it; Jacynth regarded the whole thing as an adventure, and Jonathan, having experienced one bitter disappointment, was quite prepared to bide his time until she was more mature. This unusual marriage might well have succeeded if lovely and unscrupulous Cynthia, whom Jonathan had once loved, had not come back on the scene. Could Jacynth, in her inexperience, hope to compete with her?'