The Trumpet-major

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Anne Garland and her widowed mother live quitly in a portion of the mill owned by Miller Loveday, until their peace is shattered by the sudden blaze of colour and activity brought by the local encampment of several army regiments. As they prepare to defend the country from the expected invasion by Napoleon, Anne quickly builds her own defences against a private army of suitors. She must apparently choose between the headstrong and rude Festus Derriman who, in place of any manners at all, nevertheless possesses good porspects, and the reflective and honest trumpet-major, John Loveday, who does not. And there is a third, Anne's childhood sweetheart and John's sailor brother, Robert, whose sudden arrival with an unknown wife-to-be, throws the whole affair into thorough confusion.