The Three Miss Kings – Ada Cambridge (1891)

Sometimes the perfect opportunity presents itself to read a particular book. When I bought The Three Miss Kings during a bout of VMC book buying I was intrigued by the idea of an Australian novel by an author who I hadn’t previously heard of, but then there it sat. So then along comes Brona’s Ausreading month – and I had the perfect reason to take it off the shelf.

The Three Miss Kings is set in Australia during the 1880’s – mainly taking place in Melbourne – although the novel opens in a rural area on the Southern ocean, where the three Miss Kings of the title have always lived in a certain amount of seclusion. Elizabeth, Patty and Eleanor having lost their mother some years earlier have now recently lost their father a reclusive man of difficult temperament. Contemplating their inheritance the young women consider themselves to be very well provided for – and as they sit on their beloved cliffs gazing out across the sea – they begin to plan their future. Patty and Eleanor are keen to travel, to go to Europe and see something of the world, however, Elizabeth the elder sister who is more measured and practical urges caution, suggesting that they go to Melbourne – for that is still a worldlier place than they have ever experienced – while they get used to living alone. So the sisters leave everything they know – their faithful old family retainer, their menagerie of animals and Mr Brion the fatherly old lawyer who advises them – and set out for Melbourne.

Once in Melbourne they are met by Paul Brion, the son of their family lawyer, who has been directed by his father to look out for the sisters and arrange lodgings for them. Almost immediately Paul and Patty start sparring – instantly misunderstanding one another – and the reader just knows how this is likely to play out. Patty; impulsive, and strong willed, Paul Brion a poor, proud newspaper writer, drawn to one another but destined it seems to be constantly at odds. Comfortably ensconced in pleasant lodgings, the sisters quickly realise they are living in the rooms previously occupied by Paul Brion – who gave up his rooms so that the sisters could be comfortably suited, Patty is particularly mortified, not wishing to be beholden to Paul Brion. Soon the sisters are living next door, and Paul Brion is back in his own rooms, where through a thin partition the sisters and Paul Brion are often very much aware of one another.

“In the stillness of the night, Paul Brion, leaning over his balustrade of the verandah, and whitening his coat against the partition that divided his portion of it from theirs, heard the opening bars of the funeral march, the gradually swelling sound and thrill of it impassioned harmonies, as of a procession tramping towards him along the street, and the sudden lapse into untimely silence. And then he heard, very faintly, a low cry and a few hurried sobs, and it was as if a lash had struck him.”

It is soon apparent that what the sisters had considered to be a considerable fortune is anything but. Their ambitions of adding to their simple wardrobes are thwarted by the cost of everything they want, which comes as an unwelcome surprise. Under the calm, guiding hand of Elizabeth, the sisters content themselves with using a few luxurious pieces of fabric, lace and some pearls from their mother’s possessions to accentuate the look their simple black gowns. The King sisters find they have much to learn, society is a complex place, where visits must be returned, lone gentlemen can’t be invited to tea and the nouveaux riche can never really be a lady as they simply do not come from the right section of society.
The Three Miss Kings is very much rooted in time and place. The novel opens in 1880, the time of the international Exhibition in Melbourne. There are refrences too, to the recednt capture of Ned Kelly and the Melbourne cup, and Melbourne itself is presented as a thriving modern city. It is during the procession, the day before the Exhibition opens that the true Cinderella nature of this story starts to take off. As Elizabeth stands in the street on the steps of a building, keeping a place for her sisters where they hope to be able to see the parade, she is almost crushed by the surging crowd, when she is saved by a stranger, a tall strong man, who immediately makes the gentle Elizabeth feel safe and protected. Mr Yelverton , a wealthy man from England, whose family history has a tragic mystery at the heart of it, has concerned himself with the plight of the poor of Whitechapel and later challenges Elizabeth’s conventional ideas on religion.

“Stand here, and I can shelter you a little” he said, in a quiet tone that contrasted refreshingly with the hoarse excitement around them. He drew her close to his side by the same grip of her waist that had listed her bodily when she was off her feet, and immediately releasing her, stretched a strong left arm between her exposed shoulder and the crush of the crowd. The arm was irresistibly pressed upon her own arm, and bent across her in a curve that was neither more nor less than a vehement embrace, and so she stood in a condition of delicious astonishment, one tingling blush from head to foot.”

while Elizabeth King and Mr Yelverton’s friendship develops, the sisters find themselves “taken up” by Mrs Duff-Scott and her husband, Mrs Duff-Scott is the pinnacle of Melbourne society, and when she decides to practically adopt the sisters, their success is assured. Mrs Duff-Scott is determined to get good marriages for her protégées and with Eleanor being courted by Mr Westmorland, and Patty pursued by the ridiculous Mr Smith, Elizabeth is allowed to get closer to Mr Yelverton, while Paul Brion, not someone of whom Mrs Duff-Scott really approves, feels more pushed out than ever.
As Elizabeth has to consider whether she will marry Mr Yelverton or not, during a visit back to their old home on the cliffs – an astonishing discovery turns everything on its head.

While Ada Cambridge’s best known novel is a romantic Cinderella story, it is also the story of Victorian Australian society; Ada Cambridge is realistic in her depictions of marriage and societal conventions and snobberies. Judging by the introduction to my VMC edition by Audrey Tate, Ada Cambridge herself was an interesting woman, who wrote an autobiography called Thirty Years in Australia – I rather fancy tracking that down I think.