"Red Tape Office"
The Duke’s Daughter!
by Angela Thirkell (1951)
Looking Back At 1951

Several of our favorite characters reappear to play sometimes crucial roles: Lady Norton, the Dreadful Dowager; Gradka of the Mixo-Lydians; the obnoxious Harvey siblings; and the appallingly accident-prone Mrs. Updike.
Lady Norton calls upon recently married Lucy Adams after a nine-finger exercise determines that congratulations may be in order.
Gradka, now Mixo-Lydian Ambassadress is instrumental (with Maria Lufton) in routing Miss Harvey’s matrimonial assault on Oliver Marling.
She also helps to rescue Tom Grantly from his ill-advised venture into the clutches of Geoffrey Harvey and the Red Tape Office.
Oliver is frightened out of his “habit” of love for Jessica Dean and perennial unclehood into a real attachment for Maria.
Charles Belton and Clarissa Graham advance from “understanding” to engagement, Tom and Emmy Graham, united in ...