The Sporting Duchess

Lord Desborough and Captain Mostyn, both officers in the same regiment, are suitors for the hand of Muriel. Desborough wins and marries her, and thereby incurs the everlasting enmity of his rival. Their regiment is ordered to India, where Desborough falls under the wiles of an adventuress named Vivian Darville. His flirtation is duly reported to the absent wife by Mostyn, and the resultant future trouble between husband and wife, is fanned into flame by the jealousy of Rupert Lee, a young officer whom Vivian has driven to drink by her broken promises. On the return of the regiment to England the Desboroughs open their magnificent home, Desborough Hall, where in spite of the fact that Desborough is on the verge of bankruptcy, expensive entertainments are given under the patronage of the Countess, known as "The Sporting Duchess," because her aspirations are in the direction of hunting, horse racing and other phases of sporting life, rather than the less exciting functions of society. She is a woman of great wealth, keeps a large racing stable, and her liking for Desborough causes her to back his horse, Clipstone, for the Derby, as against King of Trumps, who is Mostyn's entry. Deciding to take unto herself a young husband, she selects Dr. Streatfield, a young army surgeon of fickle temperament, who has become engaged to Vivian Darville on the voyage home from England, and whom he introduces into the Desborough circle, only to find that his true affinity is Annette, daughter of Colonel Donnelly. Vivian's interest, however, goes no further than to be introduced into society through her engagement to Streatfield, and once under the Desborough roof, she begins to aid the villainous Mostyn in effecting a separation between the Desboroughs. This will open the way to Mostyn's attentions to Muriel, and at the same time secure revenge for Desborough's casting her off in India. But there is in the household, as nurse for the Desborough heir, Harold, Mary Aylmer, daughter of Desborough's stable trainer, whom Mostyn has betrayed under promise of marriage. She exacts fulfillment of that promise, and the plotters decide to remove her from the field of action at once. Mary reveals her condition to Muriel, who consults Desborough, and he writes her a letter stating that he will provide for her future, but cannot, of course, retain her in his household as preceptress to his own son. At the same time he also writes a letter to Vivian Darville, asking that their former relatio