An Old Chester Secret

Everyone in Old Chester seems to know Lydia Sampson's business: her poverty, her generosity, a broken engagement and an abandoned wedding with William Rives. When this unusually open woman leaves for Mercer without saying when she will return, the town begins to wonder. Margaret Wade Campbell Deland builds her Pennsylvania novel around the strain between a neighbor's private responsibility and a community's appetite for explanation.

Lydia's small rented house stands beside the imposing home of Mr. Smith, whose daughter Mary is engaged to Carl Robertson. Later, Lydia cares for a boy called Johnny, and speculation about his parentage follows her through the town. Conversations about helping him show how concern for a child's welfare can become entangled with concern for reputation. Deland combines affectionate observation with sharp accounts of social judgment, making the novel a useful choice for readers interested in community gossip, unconventional care and the cost of keeping another person's confidence.