Does anybody have any questions, comments, etc? *AMA*

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

While I feel that a lot of loose ends got tied up in the final few episodes, I daresay readers may still have a few questions about how certain things turned out? Or indeed about things that happened in existing text.

With a proviso that in some cases there may be [spoilers] involved with respect to snippets in process or projected.

Comments

[em_h]

Honestly, I am most curious about what adult Flora and Hannah are up to, but that takes us into a whole other generation and any number of possible trajectories ...

[rymenhild]

This. And do Em and Lalage maintain a partnership?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

This should be addressed in a forthcoming snippet.

[aella_irene]

I sincerely hope that the lady who is no longer Mrs D- K- has a happy marriage out in Nova Scotia, and no one ever finds out about

Who does Sebastian K wed? Does he wed? Do his father and Mrs P find true comfort together in a surprisingly respectable fashion?

[swingandswirl]

Seconding these questions! and adding a third about Bess and Tom O - was their romance just a youthful fling, or something more?

(And I thought I saw some hints of Sebastian/Meg but that might just be wishful thinking.)

[em_h]

Oh, and how Josh ends up as an adult. I have always wondered about his future. (And Bess and Meg, as above).

Apparently, what I actually want is The Comfortable Courtesan: The Next Generation, which is really an excessive request ...

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Josh, after studying veterinary science, becomes a zoologist/explorer, achieving the FZS and FRS at a fairly young age, and also a campaigner for the more humanitarian treatment of animals.

Quintus becomes a doctor, a noted physician and sanitarian campaigner, also supporter of the medical education of women. He married Sukey Wallace.

[kore]

What happens to all the little F's? Are C and J and E ever able to happily triangulate in a little country house somewhere away from prying eyes? Does Flora ever know who her other mother was?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

See above for what happens to the little F-s. Harry becomes a noted engineer renowned for his work in steam locomotion, also (along with Bess) runs the ironworks after his parents' death. He marries Lady Louisa M-.
Other questions may be addressed in snippets.

[nineveh_uk]

How did Sandy and Lord G- R- meet in the first place? And what is Sandy's family background?

Also, does Meg enjoy school when she goes?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Meg enjoys school very much.

Sandy comes from a respectable small-shopkeeper background. His family assumed that he would go into the church. He met Milord in the context of various radical societies in London (he had perhaps particular reason for thinking that the finest sight a Scotsman ever sees was the high road to London).

[aella_irene]

Also, what was the situation that made it prudent that C both cease writing her memoirs, and hide them?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

In the wake of the Mr R- O- business, and the continuing expressions of interest from the Earl of I-, she decided it was all too much of a risk to her friends and herself.

[el_staplador]

What happened to Lady J- and Miss A- when the latter retired from the stage? And the Admiral?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

I don't think Miss A- ever retires! though eventually takes much more of a managerial/training/mentoring role, as well as acting in somewhat of a consultant capacity to Bess's endeavours. She and Lady J- continue to mutually doat. The Admiral does eventually retire to his Hampshire estate. Their son, Horatio, goes into the Navy. Lady J- continues the terror of the philanthropick set for many years to come.

[loligo]

No particular questions for you -- just saying thank you for the answers!

[white_hart]

Do the Ts ever come back to England, or do they stay in Australia for the rest of their lives?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

They stay out there. At some point after Mr Atkins, who has become entirely a partner in their scientific endeavours, has served his term, Mrs Atkins goes out to join him.

[azara]

How long does the mad Marquess survive? And what happens to the estate after his death?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Longer than anyone would like, really, but he does not make old bones.

After his death, a great deal of scrabbling around trying to find distant relatives in the male line (this could turn into Jarndyce v Jarndyce, pretty much). If none can be found, I suspect that it would revert to the Crown.

It's a very long time since I was obliged to study the history of the laws of property for my archive diploma!

[nenya_kanadka]

O was going to ask after the F-'s, but I see you've already covered that. ❤

Does Docket ever retire? How well do they manage her health issues? And do she and Biddy Smith ever have a romantic entanglement, or are they just good friends?

What happens to Julius and Hannah? It sounds like Hannah at least stays attached to Clorinda and the F-'s for some time.

Is Milord ever forced to marry, or are he and Sandy able to be devoted "bachelors" forever?

(I imagine the question of whether C and Sandy ever do knock boots might be better left to fanfiction...)

I'm going to be so sad to have less excuse to use these icons, haha.

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Docket would never retire! But towards the end she's mostly giving instructions to Sophy while lying down. On the Docket/Biddy Smith question, this remains in a Schrodinger state.

(As does Clorinda/Sandy.)

However, Milord is never obliged to marry.

Julius becomes a famed horticulturalist and botanist. His friendship with Essie continues into their adulthood.

Revelations forthcoming about Hannah.

Sophy, by the way, marries Sam Jupp.

[nenya_kanadka]

Oh and a question about existing plotline:

Julia P-, the one who grew up in India, got married to....Lord H- or something? Whose son was also a suitor?

Wasn't one of them also the Lord Handsy that Clorinda kept having to warn all the women about? Which one did Julia marry, and was she happy?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Relevant snippet forthcoming.

[rymenhild]

All these answers are so lovely!

Does Sir B- W- ever make Prime Minister?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Alas no, but nonetheless has a distinguished political career.

[anne]

I'd like to know what happens to Tibby and Titus!

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

They have a very happy marriage and several children. Titus continues in his successful singing career and writing music. His cantata 'Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia' is performed under the patronage of Lady J- to considerable critical acclaim. Tibby is a successful fashion journalist: this develops into providing personal advice for a small fee to ladies who cannot afford their own lady's maid. She remains part of the lady's maids cabal.

[castiron]

Does Matt Johnson have a successful rest of his career?

Does Dolly Mutton's home for retired prostitutes continue to prosper?

Was Mrs K sick all along with the illness that eventually killed her, or were her earlier bouts of ill health unrelated?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Yes, yes, and yes (I was thinking probably MS, of which there are cases reported that have been retrospectively diagnosed as such in the period, but baffling the medics at the time).

[kate_nepveu]

Does Lady B's novel authorship ever become public?

Thank you for all these delightful answers, by the way!

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

No, not until the memoirs emerge: there are a fair number of articles in learned journals and speculations in works on early C19th literature concerning the authorship, but none of them guessed Clorinda.

[rymenhild]

Can you tell us anything about Ellie N-?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

She becomes quite an entirely new young woman in New South Wales in the company of the T-s and with congenial work to her hand. Given the shortage of women, especially respectable young women, in the colony, she finds she is much pursued by government officers, free settlers, etc, but eventually settles down with Mr C-, the scientific expedition surgeon, who decides to stay when the rest of the expedition (that still survive) return to England with their findings.

I feel it is entirely possible that they find themselves in an arrangement with the T-s...

[cesy]

I am delighted at all these updates.

[kore]

It's just like hearing news about dear old friends, isn't it?

[m_nivalis]

How did Mr T find out that the mathematically inclined governess he corresponded with was actually Miss G? Did she tell him or did he figure it out himself?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

He is brought to one of Clorinda's soirees while Miss G- is taking banque at the card table: and he recognises her by her style of play: https://the-comfortable-courtesan.dreamwidth.org/6335.html

[adeliej]

Thank you again for all this! It's absolutely delightful to read :)

[aedifica]

Does the erstwhile Lady N- grow to enjoy her conjugal duties? I hope she does, yet I'm concerned what a pregnancy would do to her in her invalid state. (Does Clorinda teach her about sponges? It seems very improper, and yet...)

I also wonder how Frau P- avoids increase with Mr K-.

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Hester and Sir C- F- indeed work things out - his summer in Brighton with Clorinda provided him with quite a lot of ideas for marital felicity that would not involve penetrative sex.

I envisage a somewhat awkward conversation between Sebastian and his father on the subject of baudruches.

[aedifica]

Oh, the book of "female philosophy" that Clorinda found so prepossessing--did you have a particular book in mind?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

[T]he author was the late wife of Mr Godwin and fatally bore him a daughter, that of recent years elopt with the poet Shelley.
I.e., it's Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman

[violsva]

Much belated, but I just wondered: does Clorinda's household know about her novel-writing?

[the_comfortable_courtesan]

Hard to miss Clorinda's ink-spattered scribbling - the parcels of galley-proofs from her publishers - and the ever increasing shelves of elegantly bound volumes of the works of A Lady Anonyma! Plus, the very vivid scenes of pugilistick combat in certain tales, praised by criticks ('surely the author cannot be a woman!') owed a good deal to conversations with Hector. (The dueling scenes research, of course, was undertaken with Milord.)