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Franchise Affair 85%

Not enjoying this as much as Brat Farrar. From the start, the "conventional" reading is that the young girl is framing the older (richer) women. There hasn't been much back-and-forth as to our sympathies.  As we get closer to the trial, the townspeople remain virulently anti-Marian and her mother. The observation that Tey is anti-democratic seems reasonably. Average person is gullible fool; aristocrats see more. Ugh.

Plot:  Betty Kane actually was in Amsterdam with a man rather than being beaten by Marion. The hotel keeper, as Robert Blair semi-predicted earlier, saw an old copy of Ack-Emma, happened to be traveling to England, and came to Robert Blair's office in the nick of time. Additionally, the maid who heard "screams" from upstairs was actually a thief who blackmailed a friend into backing her story.  The friend returns a stolen item with a note, the note is identified as hers by comparison to school work, so the maid's story of the "screams" is discredited.

But . . . the night before the trial the common rabble of the town of Milford burn The Franchise to the ground. Tey has been accused of being too aristocratic in her inclinations.  This book would provide evidence.  A few of the "regular" people (Stanley for example) are rock solid. But all in all, the regular Joe on the street is a fool led by his passions into error.

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