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Lydia's grandparents were tenants of a local Earl. Their attractive daughter married, through choice or inducement, Sam Belcher, the Earl's gamekeeper. At the Earl's death Lydia was left £1,000, leading to speculation that the Earl was her actual father. With this she acquired a small estate from where she lives in a state of equality with the local gentry. These include Jack Rogers of Brynn, Justice of the Peace , and Deputy Lieutenant of Cornwall.
Lydia runs a smuggling syndicate from her house, with sufficient indifference to the law to tie her roses with French rope. Because of her wealth she draws the attraction of Whitmore, who aims to elope with her so as to obtain it. Lydia Belcher is intelligent, educated and sophisticated, but in certain respects naïve. Major Brooks is the only one able to see through Whitmore. Her age is given as over forty.