It transpired that Dorothea’s cousin had, when she was barley fifteen,raped her. But as Dorothea had explained to Henry there was no violence, but instead a well thought out and rather logical reason why he (the cousin) would ensure that she (Dorothea) would not get a single penny of her father’s money unless he, Colonel Percy Hamilton-Packmore, DSC, was allowed the occasional sexual favour from his very bright and very beautiful cousin. Dorothea agreed readily (money was the key to her future and she could deal with Percy and his treachery at a later date), and, if she was truthful, she rather enjoyed the encounter with the somewhat dim, but charming, hero of Balaclava; although he wasn’t half as good as her English teacher, who’d made love to her on the banks of the River Severn the summer before.

After her explanation Dorothea suggested to a rather stunned  Donaldson that he have a chat with her cousin, informing him that he (the cousin) should sign the papers releasing Dorothea’s inheritance immediately, otherwise she (Dorothea) would go to the nearest police station and tearfully explain, in detail,how the colonel had violently, and repeatedly, raped her without mercy. Oh, and to just make sure Henry knew what he was letting himself in for, Dorothea insisted she become Henry’s business partner, and his wife. Oh, and just to make quite, quite sure Henry knew what he was letting himself in for, Dorothea told him she might have to tell the same policeman that he (Henry) had raped her too if he didn’t agree to her suggestions.

” Damn the woman,” whispered Henry Donaldson to himself.

And the couple, in the spring of 1861, were duly married, and with great ceremony, followed by a honeymoon in the South of France where Dorothea went horse riding most days, and where, in a small villa in the
foothills to the north of Aubagne, she secretly met her lover, the English teacher, while Henry, back at the large villa they had rented at Toulon, put the finishing touches to his manuscript of Trafalgar,
which was due to go into rehearsals upon their return.

Blackpool had never seen such a show as Trafalgar, which was one of the first shows to be produced on the end of the newly constructed North Pier. And what a production it was, with a full size replica of the
stern end of HMS Victory filling the whole of the stage.