title: Browning, Victorian Poetics and the Romantic Legacy: Challenging the Personal Voice
author:  Britta Martens 
description: Britta Martens is a senior lecturer in English at the University of the West of England, UK
zlib_text: ![](Images/cover00137.jpeg)
  
  _**Kept apart by duty...**_
  
   **Reunited by love?**
  
  Arlette Dryden has never forgotten William Latham, the Royalist soldier who
  accompanied her to safety while the Battle of Worcester raged. Or how her
  heart broke when he left. Now it’s the exiled king’s return parade, and
  stunned Arlette locks eyes with her charismatic cavalier again. She’s still
  irresistibly drawn to him, but as both have convenient betrothals beckoning,
  can their long-held passion conquer all?
  
   _ **Along with everyone else, Arlette laughed and waved as the parade, which
  seemed never ending, passed by.**_
  
  Her gaze was drawn to one gentleman in particular, a gentleman whose face was
  partly shielded by the brim of his wide hat.
  
  The admiration in this cavalier’s eyes as they passed over her made her catch
  her breath. All her senses came alive. They stared at one another across the
  distance, and the rapport, the communication between them was tangible.
  Suddenly a familiarity sprang betwee