Nurse Hester had been the nurse of the house of Ferndale for many years and now she recalls long ago how Miss Maud and her sister Miss Grace were the prettiest girls in the countryside. Their father Lord Ferndale paid little attention to the motherless girls so wrapped up was he in music that was his hobby. And so when he invited Tony Sorrento a fine young musician in to the house as his guest, Lord Ferndale was blind to the court Tony paid to both the sisters...

Author: Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell.