And Falsely Pledge My Love

Mrs. Merriden was a benevolent autocrat whose rule over a small North-country village was cheerfully accepted by most of those whom it concerned. But perhaps she went rather too far in engineering a fictitious engagement between her grandson, Robert, and the pretty school-mistress, Monica Page -- particularly as Monica considered that she had the best of reasons for disliking Robert. It was a situation that even Mrs. Merriden was to find she couldn't completely control.