Chelbury Abbey — Denis Mackail

When young John Ellery came to London to study architecture, he straightway fell in love. First of all, he fell in love with the color and the line and the lovely old masonry of Chelbury Abbey and then quite shyly and confusedly with Penny herself. Penny Wick, Lady Penelope, if one must be so old-fashioned, lived with her father, the seventh earl, in a cottage near the Abbey and pined to get up to London and find a job. She belonged to England's aristocratic new poor and rather took the glories of her pleasant old Abbey for granted. But John had lots of ideas -- more or less practical. His pursuit of them and of Penny makes one of the most human and delightful stories that Denis Mackail has written.