A Managing Female — Beth Bryan

SHE could not have conceived of a worse start

Miss Deborah Stormont would not call herself "managing." She simply had a knack for knowing the correct thing to do at the correct time.

So it was that when Lord Auberon Crichton, who had offered assistance at Dover, was brained by an airborne bale and knocked unconscious, Deborah made sure there was nothing for it but to take him with her to France.

Lord Crichton, however, did not seem entirely grateful, which did not sit well in Deborah's dish, until she learned that he had been en route to pop the question when she had summarily snatched him away!

Hero: Lord Auberon Crichton
Heroine: Miss Deborah Stormont