The Argosy, Vol. 56

Mr. Warrenne: Medical Practitioner (Chapter XXXIV: The Stapylton Girls)

This is the thirty-fourth chapter of an ongoing domestic serial set in 1890s England. Leonard Warrenne returns home from travels enriched, eager to settle his family at Forrel Court. His sister Maud fears estrangement but finds him unchanged; their father refuses to relocate, expecting Leonard to marry eventually. Leonard insists he won't. The chapter chronicles their social visits: riding with Maud, visiting Alice Scudamore at Woodlands, and encountering the notorious Stapylton family—loud, tall daughters whose boisterous manners trouble Leonard. Sir Frederic Manning, a witty gentleman obsessed with art, shows the group his prized sculpture: a marble Ruth gleaning by an unknown master. Leonard recognizes it from Rome; Sir Frederic purchased it from the artist W—— after discovering its original at a collector's home. The Stapylton girls prove indifferent to art, more interested in gossip and flirtation.