The Nonesuch

On his death, skinflint Joseph Calver has left Broom Hall, his ramshackle Yorkshire property, to Sir Waldo Hawkridge, a cousin he has never met in his life. Unmarried at 35, the already wealthy new heir is known in society as 'The Nonesuch' and has set up an orphanage for some fifty boys in the London area. Now he travels to the West Riding to inspect his inheritance with a view to adapting it for the same purpose. His young cousin, Julian, Lord Lindeth, asks to accompany him north by way of distraction from the fashionable world that bores him.

Broom Hall is situated near the village of Oversett, where much of the rest of the novel's events take place, with occasional trips to the convenient shops and coaching inns in the neighbouring town of Leeds. The new visitors are dined, breakfasted and bidden to any number of impromptu dance parties, especially by families with marriageable daughters in search of a wealthy partner. The Nonesuch also becomes the idol of the young men of the district, who give up their dandified ways to imitate his masculine elegance.

One household in particular becomes the focus of the new visitors. This is Staples, where the widowed Mrs Underhill's daughter Charlotte is far outshone by her forward cousin Tiffany Wield, a spoiled and glamorous heiress whose main aim is to enslave every new male she encounters. The only person in the household able to rein in Tiffany's wilful behaviour is Ancilla Trent, a twenty-six year old from a formerly genteel background who must now support herself by acting as a governess and companion as part of the Underhill family.

Lord Lindeth soon becomes enthralled by Tiffany, who is on the outlook for an aristocratic marriage, while Sir Waldo, for some reason, seems to single out Ancilla for his attentions. Eventually Lindeth becomes disgusted by Tiffany's selfishness and jealous spite and this is brought to a head when visiting Leeds, where the rector's daughter Patience Chartley has joined their party. Suddenly Patience dashes into the road to rescue a young urchin, who is running away with a stolen apple, from being run over by a horse and carriage. Tiffany is enraged at all the sympathetic attention given Patience for her pluck and makes her displeasure at being overlooked only too obvious. The situation is only saved when Sir Waldo intervenes to drive Tiffany home in his own phaeton.

Lindeth now spends more of his time at the rector's home and Tiffany is even more shamed when the local young men make it clear that they have grown tired of her moodiness and begin to cold shoulder her. In order to make a better impression, Tiffany goes to visit Patience on the very day that Lindeth proposes to and is accepted by her. Rushing home in humiliation, she persuades Laurence Calver, another of Sir Waldo's cousins down on a visit, to drive her to Leeds; there she makes it clear that she expects him to help her catch the coach to London so that she can stay with an uncle there. Instead he tricks her into waiting in a room in an inn and meanwhile sends Waldo an urgent message to come and retrieve her.

Sir Waldo enlists Ancilla unwilling's company to Leeds but the two quarrel on the way. She has earlier misinterpreted Lindeth's reference to Waldo's "wretched brats" (meaning the orphans he provides for) to mean that they are his bastard children and is outraged when he presses her for an explanation why she will not accept his proposal and marry him. Once this misunderstanding is cleared up, all other problems are solved too. Waldo agrees to help Tiffany avoid embarrassment by sending her back to London; he promises Laurence Calder the business loan he has come to obtain; and to allow Ancilla to fulfil her pedagogical instincts by making her his married partner in the new orphanage.