The Honorable Miss

A social call sets Northbury talking when Mrs. Bertram visits the comfortable home of Mrs. Meadowsweet and meets her daughter Beatrice. The mother welcomes the attention of a woman she considers socially superior, while Beatrice treats the visit with greater independence. Their conversation about Beatrice's name introduces a household full of affection and a town keenly interested in rank, manners and its neighbors' affairs.

L. T. Meade's novel for young readers places these family relationships beside the pleasures of a small coastal town. In August, bathing, boating and summer visitors enliven Northbury, and Captain Bertram's arrival brings fresh hopes of courtship. His mother's expectations and his private correspondence with Josephine Hart suggest that appearances tell only part of the story. Readers interested in friendships, family influence and social ambition will find those concerns worked out through lively conversation, watchful neighbors and the contrast between Beatrice's directness and her mother's contented outlook.