DarkLady, I started wondering about how Gerard must have behaved to Carrie before Quentin returned, while he (Gerard, not Quentin) was luring Samantha into marriage. Samantha seemed to be very fond of Carrie when we saw the two of them together, so apparently there was no atmosphere of "Who is Gerard's favorite?" at Collinwood. I daresay Gerard told Samantha that he was just being kind to Carrie and that Carrie was far to young to interest him. I'm willing to bet that Hortense was infatuated with Gerard as well - but there again, Gerard was just being kind. Nothing more. Absolutely nothing.
Good heavens, the governess was allowed to have a carriage to take her to Rose Cottage on a personal errand? Shocking! Did Daphne wangle it out of Quentin, or what? And then we've got dating in the 1840s. Shouldn't that be enough to get Daphne fired?
Quentin is good friends with both Desmond and Gerard, but Desmond doesn't trust Gerard, and Gerard has no use for Desmond. An interesting triangle.