Good Lady Ducayne -Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1896)

                                       A Vampire Story or Science Fiction ?       

 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon  (1835-1915) is most famous for the novels  Lady Audley's Secret (1862)  and Aurora Floyd (serialised in 1862; published as a novel in 1863) . Dozens more novels, short stories, children's tales, poems, followed. Mary Elizabeth Braddon was also an actress, and magazine editor.  The genres Braddon explored included ghost, horror, and crime fiction. 

Pleased to have found the Classic Ghost Story Podcast version of Good Lady Ducayne read by Tony Walker. Originally appeared via installments in 'The Strand Magazine' in 1896. A year before Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Richard Marsh's 'The Beetle'. 

Good Lady Ducayne appears to be set in the decade it was written. Fiction now and then is often placed slightly in the past, usually to get a time line going for the story concerned. (Lady Ducayne maintains that she was born the days that Louis XVI was executed-making her around 100 years old in 1896).  Yet this story, appears to be retro. The lead character ,Bella Rolleston,  is a bright young home worker,sewing with her sick mother in a shabby rented flat. Mrs. Rolleston is quite genteel, but has married a scoundrel who later abandoned her. Bella registers with an employment agency, for an extortionate fee. There is some sparky and catty dialogue between Bella and the smug superior woman running the enterprise. Bella wishes to be a companion as if  this was about the only position open to her. A bit surprising for the 1890's. Perhaps George Gissing's 1893 'The Odd Women' is more up to date. Showing how the arrival of the typewriter was leading to the rise of the female office worker. The 1890's also saw an increase in women's paid occupations as nursing and teaching.

Lady Ducayne requires a young  companion to stay with her in her continental villa in  what appears to be an English 'colony' at Cap Ferrino, Italy. Two previous such companions- ' anaemic girls'- in her ladyship's words, have already died. Lady Ducayne has her own ugly Italian surgeon -Doctor Parravicini- who helps to keeps her alive, along with conducting odd scientific experiments.There is an element of chauvinism in  his depiction. Bella appears to be totally oblivious to what we would now call 'red flags'.

Bella at first revels in the scenic beauty of Italy,and her new comfortable lifestyle, along the chance to read plenty of novels, and to send money home to mother.  Lady Ducayne doesn't appear to be very demanding at first. In Bella's free time, she makes the acquaintance of a young English couple, a brother and a sister. The brother happens to be a doctor, who only permits his sister to have books that he has read and approved first. As time goes on Bella begins to feel physically drained, troubled by nightmares,  complaining of an excessive number of mosquito bites. Luckily the good English doctor steps in, using his advanced medical knowledge. The wicked Italian doctor and Lady Ducayne are held to be responsible and duly confronted. It transpires that the Italian has been using chloroform  on Bella whilst she was asleep, extracting  her blood to pass on her to Lady Ducayne to keep her young, well at least alive. It is not clear whether her ladyship is really trying to join the ranks of the immortals or simply prefers to have as many years in the sun as possible. 

The first blood transfusion in Britain was performed by Doctor James Blundell in 1818, so this may be occurring in the story, but not really that clear.  As Bella dreams of the 'whirring of wheels that went round in her brain ', and 'a sound like a whirlwind' , 'sensations that she had not ever felt before in sleep' so looks like some mechanical procedure is in place rather than a vampire bite. There is a lack of supernatural action in the story. Lady Ducayne and Parravicini  confess their wrong doing fairly quickly once they are rumbled. 

Her ladyship and her doctor hastily agree to pension Bella off, with a substantial capital sum, to avoid involving the authorities. The death of the two previous companions is just brushed aside.  Bella marries the good doctor, and remains blissfully unaware of her true predicament, thinking that Lady Ducayne is some some sort of benign benefactor.

There is wit and charm, but the horror element is a bit understated by today's standards and the supernatural element is missing.There is the moral outrage factor at the clear exploitation of a young naive woman by a rich parasitic vain old lady and her sinister surgeon with a foreign name. It is possible to view the tale as science fiction in line with the dubious medical procedures, a crime story, or even a romance. 

Out of the Mary Elizabeth Braddon short stories I have come across, I recommend 'The Cold Embrace' , originally serialised in 'The Welcome Guest' in 1860.  Taking place in pre-unification Germany and the Paris of Napoleon III, and involves the vengeful  ghost of a woman whose lover has abandoned her. 'The Shadow in the Corner', serialised in 'Temple Bar' magazine in 1879, a claustrophobic and melancholy haunted house tale, with its strange mixture of humour, ancestral misfortune and pathos, is another personal favourite. Links to the Bitesized Audio versions can be found below. 

OTHER BLOGS BY THIS WRITER 

A Burnt Ship  17th century War & Literature 

World War 2 poetry Not been updated for a while but still attracting visitors

Thank you to all visitors from different countries who visit this blog. As ever, any mistakes or school boy howlers are my responsibility and should not reflect on the work of any source that I have cited. 

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Picture 

'Mary Elizabeth Maxwell nee Braddon', portrait by William Powell Firth (died 1909). In public domain courtesy of Wikipedia. 

Further Reading from the Web 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon Association   Relatively new literary society looking at the author's work. 

As The Crow Feast  Interesting and informative review of 'Good Lady Ducanyne' 

Victorian Web 'Mary Elizabeth Braddon  (1835- 1915), the "Queen of Sensation " Life and Works by Phillip Allingham, Lakehead University, Ontario. 

Literary Lives of Mary Elizabeth Bradden   Superb biographical article by Jennifer Carnell, from 'Sensation Press' website. 

The Cold Embrace A Ghost story by Mary Elizabeth Braddon  from Bite Sized Audio Channel

The Shadow in the Corner Afurther Ghost story from Braddon from Bite Sized Audio Channel 

The Beetle  Blogpost about Richard Marsh's lost occult classic