The Man with the Double Heart

In Short

Published in 1914, The Man with the Double Heart is an Edwardian romantic comedy that follows Peter McTaggart, a wealthy young Londoner who receives a startling diagnosis from a Harley Street specialist: he possesses a double heart. Taking the news literally, McTaggart interprets his condition as a license for emotional duality, convincing himself he is destined to love two women at once. As he swings between patrician beauties and bohemian adventurers across London, Italy, and Wales, real-world crises intervene. The novel endures as an entertaining period piece that satirizes male self-justification while capturing pre-war social shifts.

The Story

Peter McTaggart steps into a thick London fog to keep a nerve-wracking appointment in Harley Street. The specialist he consults delivers an extraordinary verdict: McTaggart has a physical anomaly, a double heart. The doctor warns him lightheartedly that such a condition might tempt a man toward bigamy or dual devotions. Rather than treating the news as a minor anatomical curiosity, McTaggart adopts it as the defining philosophy of his life. If he has two hearts, he reasons, he is naturally equipped to pursue two loves simultaneously without guilt or inconsistency.

His romantic life quickly becomes a study in contrasts. On the one hand stands Cydonia Cadell, an ethereal, patrician beauty with pale golden hair and mild brown eyes. The daughter of an ambitious mother and a former cheesemonger, Cydonia seems to McTaggart like a pristine statue needing protection from the crude world. On the other hand is Fantine Merrod, a sharp-witted, topaz-eyed French coquette living in a Soho flat. Fantine is a pragmatic egoist who takes life as it comes, driving McTaggart into late-night gambling, quiet suppers, and fast taxicabs. McTaggart flatters himself that his dual nature perfectly matches the purity of the one and the spice of the other.

As McTaggart floats through supper clubs, country estates, and an unexpected inheritance of Italian property—where he is feted as an heir amid silk-draped beds and high-born gossip—his romantic idealizations begin to clash with reality. Meanwhile, Stephen Somerfield, a hopelessly indebted young man, flounders under unpaid bills, cursing his luck while refusing to work. In contrast to these self-absorbed figures stand Jill Uniacke and her circle. Jill faces genuine hardship: her mother, a militant suffragette with a failing heart, suffers in prison under forced feeding, leaving Jill and her brother Roddy to manage a shabby household plagued by low funds and untidy domestic service.

When McTaggart returns from abroad, his easy friendship with Jill deepens. Witnessing her quiet courage during her mother's illness and her family's struggle, he finds himself drawn into her orbit, offering help where he can alongside his friend Bethune. Bethune himself loves Jill deeply, but recognizing her growing attachment to McTaggart, makes the ultimate sacrifice of stepping aside.

The narrative shifts decisively when McTaggart, traveling by train, reads a newspaper report concerning his former Harley Street specialist. The doctor has suffered a complete mental breakdown; his final months in practice were marked by eccentric, wild diagnoses born of a failing brain. Shocked, McTaggart realizes his "double heart" was never a medical reality, but the delusion of an insane physician. Stripped of his grand excuse for emotional ambivalence, he confronts his true feelings. Recognizing that his love for Jill is absolute and whole, he courts her earnestly, wins over her reluctant Aunt Elizabeth, and offers Jill a life of security and shared joy.

How It Unfolds

A diagnosis in the fog McTaggart navigates London’s sooty gloom to Harley Street, where a specialist informs him he has a double heart. The news sparks a wave of youthful vanity, leading him to justify his split romantic impulses.

Two models of womanhood McTaggart divides his attentions between Cydonia Cadell, a serene and inert beauty raised in a shrine-like home, and Fantine Merrod, a lively French woman who treats life as a stage and man as a convenient companion.

High society and Soho night-life Moving from the plate-glass dining rooms of Soho to glamorous ballrooms filled with Tango dancers and social gossip, McTaggart plays the suitor to Cydonia while enjoying secret suppers with Fantine.

An Italian interlude Inheriting an estate in Italy, McTaggart travels south to find mediaeval bedchambers, local nobility, and complex social rivalries, enjoying the grand lifestyle while nursing a secret wound of pride.

Shadows of the suffrage movement Back in London, Jill Uniacke copes with the harsh reality of her suffragette mother’s imprisonment and forced feeding, maintaining a chaotic house while McTaggart steps in as a practical friend.

The delusion shattered On a train journey, McTaggart reads that his Harley Street doctor has been committed to an asylum for wildly inaccurate diagnoses, exposing the double heart as a total fiction.

A singular devotion Freed from his self-serving myth, McTaggart wins the approval of Jill's Aunt Elizabeth and kneels before Jill, offering her his hand, his inherited wealth, and a single, undivided devotion.

The People

• Peter McTaggart: A wealthy, handsome young man who seizes upon a bizarre medical diagnosis to rationalize his indecisiveness in love. He evolves from a vain vanity-seeker into a devoted partner capable of real empathy.
• Jill Uniacke: A resilient, clear-eyed young woman nursing her family through severe hardship. Her fortitude during her suffragette mother's imprisonment brings out McTaggart's genuine maturity.
• Cydonia Cadell: An exquisitely beautiful girl of humble paternal origins whose patrician appearance and utter passivity make her seem like a decorative silver-point drawing to her admirers.
• Fantine Merrod: A shrewd, lively Frenchwoman living in London who uses charm and wit to navigate poverty and social precariousness, refusing to play the victim even as life grows difficult.
• Bethune: McTaggart's thick-set, reliable friend who genuinely loves Jill, yet chooses voluntary renunciation so that she may find happiness with McTaggart.
• Stephen Somerfield: A weak, shallow young man drowning in debt who blames his chronic ill-luck and ungenerous father rather than taking responsibility for his own life.
• Aunt Elizabeth Uniacke: Jill's conventional, sharp-tempered aunt who bristles at her family's radical politics but softens when McTaggart seeks her blessing.

In Its Own Voice

"The fog, pouring down from Regent's Park above, was wedged tight in Harley Street like a wad of dirty wool..."

London's dense atmosphere sets the scene for McTaggart's fateful walk to his medical appointment.

"From the union of a withered, elderly governess with a rich cheesemonger past the prime of life she had sprung on an astounded world this exquisite young creature with all the outward signs of patrician birth."

The narrator dryly describes Cydonia Cadell's unlikely origins and striking appearance.

"Whatever his views on the Suffrage question might be, he marvelled in his heart at the courage displayed by those thousands of women banded together to fight or die."

McTaggart considers the quiet bravery of Mrs. Uniacke and her fellow activists as the political movement touches his inner circle.

What It's Really About

Beneath its romantic light-comedy surface, The Man with the Double Heart explores the absurd lengths to which individuals go to rationalize their personal shortcomings. McTaggart's "double heart" functions as a metaphor for modern self-deception; by blaming his emotional drift on biology, he absolves himself of moral responsibility. The novel contrasts this male self-indulgence with the starker realities faced by women of the era. Whether dealing with class mobility, economic vulnerability, or the physical toll of political activism, the female characters navigate a world where romantic fantasies rarely buy security or freedom. Ultimately, the story argues that true love requires throwing away comforting excuses and choosing active responsibility over passive entitlement.

Why Read It Today

Muriel Hine’s 1914 novel offers readers an entertaining, polished window into Edwardian society on the brink of change. It will appeal to fans of classic romance and social satire who enjoy witty dialogue, period detail, and lighthearted character studies. The book captures a specific historical moment: taxi rides through foggy streets, the rise of Soho dining, early Tango crazes, and the fierce struggle for women's suffrage running alongside traditional ballroom courtships.

While the narrative moves at a leisurely, episodic pace characteristic of popular fiction from the period, its breezy tone keeps the story engaging. Modern readers may occasionally catch glimpses of outdated class attitudes or dramatic conveniences, but these elements are balanced by Hine's sharp humor and genuine warmth toward her characters. The book leaves you with a satisfying picture of a young man growing out of his vanity and discovering that a single, steady heart is far better than two.