Borrowed Plumes

This is a very delightful book with unexpected twists and turns. Miss Constance Osborne on the brink of being a spinster at the age of 27, inherited Monksford, a country estate. Monksford, once a glorious home with a rich history, is quickly deteriorating. Miss Osborne a frugal and level-headed woman is quickly running out of money partly due to to her Uncle Maurice's gambling debts. She will be forced to sell her beloved home. The handsome and rakish Earl of Chievely wants to get his hands on Monksford as it once belonged to his family, but there is one large problem, Miss Orborne hates him. Being a betting man, he wagers that he will be able to get Miss Osborne to become his fiancee by Derby day. Due to fortuitous circumstances, the Earl's leg is broken by Miss Osborne when he is in the wrong place when she takes her mount over a stone wall. The Earl poses as Mr. Noel Musgrave, a gentleman who is the Earl of Chievely's cousin. Mr. Musgrave recovers at Monksford and wins the friendship of Miss Osborne who pours out her heart to him. Mr. Musgrave convinces his bumbling cousin The Rev. Sibbald, Sibbie, to play the evil Earl. A fortune hunting American momma and her marriageable daughter begin pursuing The Earl of Chievely, who is really the Earl's cousin, for purposes of matrimony. A series of mishaps caused by Sibbie, the false Earl, keep things in an uproar. He keeps running into his Bishop at all the wrong places. Mr. Musgrave (the real Earl) falls for the virtuous Miss Osborne. When she finds out the truth, she is devastated and runs toward home refusing to believe that the real Earl is a changed man and wants her hand in marriage. True love triumphs and the characters look like they will live happily everafter.