The Argosy, Vol. XIX

A Secret of the Sea (April 1875) A serial novel by the author of "In the Dead of Night." Chapter X follows Sir Thomas Dudgeon and his family, newly settled in Harley Street for the parliamentary season. Sir Thomas, recently elected member for Pembridge, reluctantly embraces London society at his ambitious wife's insistence. Lady Dudgeon eagerly pursues the social life previously denied them, pressuring her reluctant husband to make a parliamentary speech on the Sugar Duties to establish his credentials. Sir Thomas enlists his secretary Jack Pomeroy to draft the speech, requesting discretion from his wife. The chapter includes domestic comedies involving household management, interactions between Pomeroy and Lady Dudgeon's companions Eleanor Lloyd and Olive Deane, and establishes tensions between Sir Thomas's country sensibilities and urban political obligations.