The Staying Guest

The Staying Guest by Carolyn Wells

The Staying Guest follows a black-eyed, black-haired little girl who arrives unannounced at Primrose Hall, the stiff, immaculate country home of two elderly spinster sisters, Miss Priscilla and Miss Dorinda Flint. She announces herself as Ladybird, explaining that her father, Jack Lovell, has died in India and that a Mr. Thomas J. Bond has sent her to the aunts named in her father's old letter, since her mother was the Flints' long-estranged younger sister, Lavinia, who eloped years before and was disowned. Miss Priscilla, horrified at the prospect of a child disrupting her rigid household, insists Ladybird must be sent back to London, but the resourceful child locks her aunts in a room while her trunks are unloaded, then hides in an apple tree with her dog Cloppy until Miss Dorinda persuades Miss Priscilla that duty demands they keep her. Miss Priscilla relents, and Ladybird becomes a permanent, disruptive, and beloved fixture of the household. Ladybird's high spirits repeatedly collide with her aunts' rigid ways: she battles to keep her dog Cloppy, pastes cutout red spots from a forbidden dress onto Miss Priscilla's second-best black silk gown in retaliation for a wardrobe restriction, and invites a houseful of poor, lame, elderly, and otherwise needy townsfolk to what was meant to be a proper children's party, forcing her mortified aunts into unexpected hospitality. A real burglary scare turns out to be staged by kindly farmer Mr. Bates, who plants a hatchet and stolen trinkets to let Cloppy's barking "prove" his worth as a watchdog and save him from being given away. Ladybird befriends Stella Russell, a lonely, cultured young woman being pressured by her grandparents to marry the dull local Charley Hayes. Determined to rescue her friend, Ladybird secretly writes to the state governor requesting a more suitable husband. The letter is intercepted by young Chester Humphreys, who visits Plainville out of curiosity, meets Ladybird, and is introduced to Stella. Despite the aunts' embarrassment over the scheme, Chester and Stella fall genuinely in love, aided by Ladybird's persistent matchmaking, and become engaged. The plot turns when a letter arrives from a girl in London also named Lavinia Lovell, claiming to be the true daughter of Jack Lovell and Lavinia Flint, while Ladybird is revealed to be the daughter of Jack Lovell's second wife. A lawyer, Mr. Ward, brings the golden-haired, blue-eyed real Lavinia to Primrose Hall to claim her inheritance. Ladybird, devastated but proud, insists she has no legal claim and offers to step aside, but both Flint sisters declare their love for her is unconditional and agree to support both girls. The new Lavinia proves polite but homesick for London life with her grandmother, Mrs. Lovell, while Ladybird treasures Primrose Hall and her aunts. Chester and Stella, grateful to Ladybird for bringing them together, arrange to buy Primrose Hall from the Flint sisters and settle it on Ladybird, using the proceeds to satisfy Lavinia's rightful inheritance so she can return to her grandmother in London. At Ladybird's urging, Chester and Stella move up their wedding date and marry in an orchard ceremony at Primrose Hall, with Ladybird and Lavinia as bridesmaids. As the story concludes, Lavinia prepares to depart for London, and Miss Priscilla admits to Ladybird that, blood ties aside, it is Ladybird alone who has won her heart and will remain at Primrose Hall.

By Carolyn Wells · First published 1920 · Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Drama · 21 chapters · 50,798 words

First lines

Over the hills and far away there was once a quaint little old town which was safely beyond the reach of the long, grasping arms of any of the great cities.

The little town nestled up against the side of a big, kind hill, at the top of which was a beautiful old country-place, called Primrose Hall.

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The Staying Guest is listed on Textopian as a novel by Carolyn Wells, dated 1920 CE.

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mystery · suspense · thriller · detective · crime · fiction · literature · plot twist · intrigue · character study · whodunit · psychological

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