Cedrica Grenford

Cedrica Grenford is a distant cousin of the Duke of Haverford. She is the daughter of “an ill-paid country vicar with a life time habit of whatever came into his hands”. When her father failed in health and became confused in mind, the church proposed to put him into a poorhouse. Desperate, Cedrica wrote to his cousin, the duke, begging for a refuge. For her father. Cedrica, who had been her father’s secretary and right-hand woman since her early teens, when her mother died, proposed to find work as a companion. Or perhaps a governess.

At the beginning of her book, A Suitable Husband, we learn the results of that letter:

Two weeks ago, the duchess, escorted by her son, the Marquis of Aldridge, descended upon their house and carried Papa off to be cared for in a lovely pensioner cottage near Haverford Castle in Kent, taking Cedrica to London to serve the duchess as a companion.

Cedrica finds herself one of a team of three ladies organising a Christmas house party at the Haverford country estate Hollystone Hall. This party is the central event in the Bluestocking Belles book Holly & Hopeful Hearts.

Aldridge suggests that, if she meets a suitable gentleman, he will provide a dowry. But the gentlemen of the ton terrify her. The only man to catch Cedrica’s eye is the French chef, Marcel Fournier. And the feeling is mutual. Here is his view of their first meeting.

She was a little dab of a thing, Mademoiselle Grenford, with her light brown hair pulled back into one of the unloveliest coiffures he had ever seen and her thick glasses concealing rather fine eyes. He had thought her a mouse and had tried to overwhelm her with his masculine authority, honed by years as undisputed master of a kitchen. “I shall be in charge, of course, Mademoiselle,” he told her. “I am a trained chef and a man. Madame Pearce shall lead in her own kitchen, but both kitchens shall answer to me.”

“The two kitchens shall operate independently, Monsieur Fournier,” the little mouse replied calmly. “Each of you shall be responsible for your own kitchen, its staff, and the food it produces.”

Of course, it all works out in the end. Aldridge pays out the dowry, and with part of it, Cedrica and Marcel open a restaurant, one of the first in London. In the following excerpt, he describes his dream to Cedrica.

I do not plan a French Ordinaire, Mademoiselle. Say, rather, Extraordinaire. As they have in France. Un restaurant, Mademoiselle, with the finest cuisine listed on a menu from which patrons can choose, an excellent cellar, a quiet setting—perhaps with music playing, prompt and efficient service. A place where gentlemen would be proud to bring their guests or could dine alone without the expense of keeping a kitchen and a chef.”

Now it was his turn to spin out the words, while she asked quiet questions, her eyes turned up to his in the light of the quarter moon.

“And so I take work wherever I can find it, Mademoiselle, and one day, I will have sufficient money, and Fournier’s of London will open for business,” he finished.

That was on New Year’s Eve 1813. In subsequent books, Fournier’s is a favourite place for my male characters to meet friends, and the tea shop he opens in 1814, presided over by Cedrica, becomes a great spot for the ladies and for families. Marcel also supplies his famous little iced cakes in a number of books, including the Bluestocking Belles collection, Fire & Frost.