title: An Unlikely Countess: Lily Budge and the 13th Earl of Galloway
author:  Louise Carpenter 
description: "A spirited and sensitive account of one of the strangest lives imaginable. Louise Carpenter's portrait of the life of Lily Budge is a classic of its kind: elegantly written, with a rare eye for detail and a shrewd and warm understanding of its extraordinary subject." William Boyd
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  ‘I find it hard,’ the Captain said, ‘to believe you would flee from the
  prospect of becoming a countess, when you walked to my house, in the pouring
  rain, thinking you were about to become a mere governess.’  
    
  
  Countess?  
    
  
  ‘Not that it makes any difference now,’ he said, in a tone of chilling
  finality.  
    
  
  ‘Oh, but …’ she began, but he had turned away. His shoulders stiff with
  affront, he stalked from the room, shutting the door behind him with the
  exaggerated care of a man who would have got a great deal more satisfaction
  from slamming it hard.  
    
  
  Aimée rolled onto her back, thumping the counterpane at her sides. Yes, why
  had he gone to such lengths to get her to his house? Why had he placed an
  advertisement in a London newspaper that made it sound as though he wanted to
  employ a governess when what he really wanted was a wife?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  AUTHOR NOTE
  
  The Earl of Caxton has two granddaughters. One of them, Miss Aimée Peters, has
  grown up in exile, knowing on