A Fair Fraud

About this issue

A Fair Fraud by Mrs. Emily Lovett Cameron, published by Street & Smith, is a domestic novel in the sentimental tradition. The narrative centers on Marion Blake, a twenty-year-old orphan adopted as a paid companion by Mr. and Mrs. Drury of Crookthorpe Hall in the Midlands. Marion's desolate position—neither servant nor family—is established through her backstory: one of seven daughters left penniless after their father's death, she was placed with the Drurys when fifteen years old. Her duties encompass household management, reading aloud, and daily household tasks. The primary dramatic tension emerges from Marion's secret, unrequited infatuation with Captain Kenneth Drury, the wealthy heir and fashionable London gentleman—a situation rendered poignant by her constrained social status and his complete indifference to her existence. The fragment breaks off as Marion contemplates rebellion against her austere domestic routine.