The Man who Won

The Man who Won by Baillie Reynolds

The Man who Won follows Melicent “Millie” Lutwyche, a neglected English girl living in Slabbert’s Poort with her dying father, his brutal Boer wife Tante Wilma, and her half-siblings. Bert Mestaer, a wealthy young Boer farmer of English descent, loves Millie passionately, though she despises his drinking, rough associates, and possessive courtship. Otis “Amurrica,” a clever American adventurer, also seeks her, making a secret bargain with Tante Wilma, who hopes to profit by forcing Millie into marriage after her father’s death. Carol Mayne, the English mission priest, reveals that Millie’s father has appointed him her guardian until she is twenty-one, defeating Tante Wilma’s plans. Millie hopes to escape to relatives in England, while Bert resolves to watch over her until she needs him. At her father’s funeral, Amurrica publicly claims that Millie will marry him. Bert humiliates him with hot coffee and beats him in a fight, but the danger remains. Tante Wilma deceives Bert into leaving the farm, then has Millie captured, tied up, and savagely sjambokked. Bert returns in time to discover Millie bloodied and unconscious in her locked loft. He breaks in through the roof, rescues her, and carries her to High Farm. In her delirium, Millie agrees indifferently that he may look after her, and Bert treats this as consent to marry. He summons Dr. Fraser, gives up drink, and imagines himself victorious. When Mayne returns, he learns the truth and acknowledges that Bert saved Millie honourably. Yet he insists that Bert cannot marry a wounded, under-age girl who does not love him. A letter from Millie’s English uncle, Edmund Chetwynd-Cooper, offers her a home in England. Millie’s joy at the prospect makes her rejection of Bert unmistakable. Furious and despairing, Bert threatens her, but Mayne rebukes him and urges him to prove his love through patience, self-command, work, and service in the approaching war. Bert eventually enlists in Lacy’s Lions. Millie arrives at Fransdale Vicarage, where her cold, class-conscious uncle and complacently oppressive Aunt Minna regard her as a coarse and dangerous Colonial influence. Her five cousins, outwardly silent and obedient, secretly evade their parents’ restrictions with the help of their governess, Miss Lathom. Millie refuses deceit, keeps confidences, and declares that she wants education, independence, and work rather than romance. She quickly sees that the cousins’ repression has bred dishonesty and unhealthy secrecy. Millie forms friendships with the Helstons, kind travellers who had cared for her on the voyage, and meets Lancelot Burmester and Alfred Dow. Dow warns her that Gwen Cooper is being played with by Freshfield, a man engaged elsewhere who resents the vicar. Meanwhile Gwen uses Millie’s bedroom and escape route for a midnight meeting with Freshfield. Vicar Cooper sees the couple but assumes the girl is Millie. Because Millie will not betray Gwen, she is accused of immoral conduct and confined. The Helstons believe her innocence, and Gwen finally confesses that she, not Millie, was seen. Millie’s integrity gives Gwen the courage to tell the truth. Five years later, Melicent lives with the Helstons in London and has become a trained architect, preparing to build labourers’ cottages from her own designs on Sir Joseph Burmester’s Cleveshire estate. She has helped Harry Helston create an important new house in Fransdale and is presented as capable, independent, and professionally ambitious. Carol Mayne, now appointed Bishop of Pretoria, comes to dinner with Lance Burmester and Captain Brooke. Millie is delighted to see Mayne again and recalls her transformation from the lonely, embittered girl of Slabbert’s Poort. The text ends as she begins to speak of one remaining fear or “wrinkle among” the happiness of her new life.

By Baillie Reynolds · First published 1912 · Genre: Historical Romance, Historical Fiction, Romantic Drama · 37 chapters · 109,956 words

First lines

"Handsome, were you? 'Tis more than they held, / More than they said. I was ware, and watched. / I was the scapegrace, this rat belled / The cat, this fool got his whiskers scratched. " / -- ROBERT BROWNING.

The talk had waxed political, and the audience was frankly bored. The man who had been haranguing his mates was hurt at the somewhat too obvious lack of appreciation which his truly democratic sentiments received.

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The Man who Won is listed on Textopian as a novel by Baillie Reynolds, dated 1912 CE.

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fiction · romantic fiction · British literature · Edwardian literature · early twentieth-century fiction · social drama · domestic fiction · love · marriage · relationships · society · family life

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