Peard, Frances Mary: Unawares. v1. 4 May 2014
 

Frances Mary Peard: (1835–1923). Born in Exminster, Devon, she was the daughter of a naval officer. Frances Mary Peard published more than forty books between 1867 and 1909, mostly domestic novels and short-story volumes. Much of her fiction is historical and much is set abroad; some is specifically aimed at younger readers. Many of her letters, like her exotic fiction, have the qualities of good travel writing. She wrote poetry only during her adolescence, except on a few private occasions.

Excerpt
The individual upon whom this volley of shrill questions was directed was a small, thin, pungent-faced Frenchwoman, who had just filled her pitcher at the fountain, and stood with hands clasped over her waist, and with ineffable satisfaction in her twinkling black eyes, looking upon the excited questioners who crowded round her. It is not given to everybody to know more than their neighbours, nor, as Veuve Angelin shrewdly reflected, is it a privilege to be lightly parted with. There was something very enchanting in the eager attention with which her information was awaited, and she looked round upon them all with a patronising benignity, which was, to say the least, irritating.