The Misses Mallett — E.H. Young

There are four Misses Mallet. First come Caroline and Sophia - large and jolly spinsters with recollections of a past glamour which sustain them as the years slip by. Then there is Rose. Beautiful Rose with her knot of dark hair, pale complexion and lovely grey eyes. So much younger than her stepsisters, she calmly waits the event - or the man - that will take her away from their life of small social successes in the city of Radstowe. But she is independent and fastidious: no man, not even the eligible Francis Sales, can entirely capture her heart. The fourth Miss Mallet is Henrietta who arrives to share the conventional home of her three aunts. She has a wilful spirit and determines against spinsterhood. Encouraging Francis (no longer so eligible), she falls under his spell. As Rose and Henrietta circle round Francis they are forced to decide between sense and sensibility.