Transcriber’s Notes
Minor punctuation errors have been fixed.
Page 12: “agreeable aquaintances” changed to “agreeable acquaintances”
About This Book
The narrative explores a declining country town whose faded mansions and altered social rituals mark the loss of former gentility. It follows a cast of local figures—Miss Dopping, an eccentric spinster; Mrs. Finny, a doctor’s widow and her daughter; household retainers; and lively youths—as they negotiate visits, gossip and neighborhood obligations around the central Noone house. A sequence of episodes depicts domestic disputes, matchmaking, neighborhood scandal and comic misunderstandings, including a young woman’s competing suitors and various interventions by well-meaning or meddlesome neighbors. Through wry observation the story traces social change, petty rivalries and the effects of intrusive interference on private lives.