Afternoon of An Autocrat — Norah Lofts

Sir Charles Augustus Shelmadine was an autocrat. He ruled his village with a firm but kindly hand--instructing his tenants on their crops, their children and their love affairs. And when he died and the new Squire came, the village stirred uneasily. For the new Squire had strange ideas-and even stranger friends-friends like Mr. Mundford who never seemed to grow any older and whose name was linked with the terrible Hell Fire Club. And Mr. Mundford was interested in too many thinsg that should not have concerned him... like the ruins of the old Roman temple... and what happened in the village on All-Hallow's Night...and in the silent, amber-eyed young woman called Damask Greenaway.