The Undesirable Governess

Colonel Follitt and his wife, Lady Jane, are a lively, sport‑loving couple who have long managed the chaos of their two rambunctious children on their country estate. When the boys start “riding races bareback in the paddock” and slipping away for mischief, the couple finally concedes that a governess is needed—though Lady Jane prefers to handle things herself, if only for a few days. Their conversation over tea reveals a marriage built on gentle teasing and a shared tolerance for each other’s quirks.

Enter their eldest son, a tall, scholarly youth more at home with Sanskrit texts than with the moors. Though he’s heir to the family’s fortune, he shows little interest in marriage, letting governesses drift past unnoticed. The arrival of a new governess—described by the household as “undesirable”—promises to stir both the academic tranquility of the son and the spirited routine of the Follitt family, setting the stage for a series of amusing domestic entanglements.