I get on charmingly with the English nobility and sufficiently well with the gentry, but the upper servants strike terror to my soul. There is something awe-inspiring to me about an English butler.-from Chapter IIPenelope Hamilton is a young American lady, genteelly poor, abroad in England with her friends Francesca, who is young and flighty, and Salemina, a sophisticated gentlewoman. Together they explore the British way of life, from the bustling Saturday-night street markets and the polite fiction of privacy courting couples enjoy on park strolls to elegant balls at which young ladies make their social debuts to the cheery innkeepers who take the travelers under their wing.First published in 1900, this is a long-forgotten classic from one of the most beloved authors of young adult fiction... the kind that adults enjoy even more than children do. Brew a pot of tea and settle in for a delightful read.American author and educator KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN (1856-1923) was born in Philadelphia. She started the first free kindergarten in San Francisco in 1878 but is perhaps best known as the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1903).