Another book by the Williamsons, authors of "Set in Silver."
In this book a young woman, Lady Betty, from a British family is sent to America because her older sister is trying to get engaged to a rich British nobleman and the family is afraid that Betty, being too pretty, will be a distraction and a hindrance. ???!
So she is sent across the ocean with some American acquaintances. While on ship, she becomes fascinated with a man in third-class, who heroically jumps into the ocean to save a little boy who had fallen overboard.
Once she arrives in America, she is part of a whirlwind of social events and millionaires. She compares American customs with what she is used to back home, and then she has to learn that the customs of the rich and famous are in a category by themselves. Basically she's figuring out which class of people she wants to belong to, what it is that really matters when judging a person to be a worthwhile companion, etc., etc.
The man she met on ship, Jim Brett, pops in and out on occasion. Viewing him as being in a lower social class (and therefore not a candidate for a suitor), she has no problem expressing her commendation for him and even her feelings of friendship. She is even comfortable enough around him to express her preference for his good qualities as opposed to the less-than-pleasing manners of her more wealthy acquaintances. Clearly she's being a little dense in thinking that it's safe to say all this to a man just because he's in a different social class.
Anyway, Jim Brett leaves her a couple of discreet gifts that should right away be hints that he is more than what he appears. Then he is able to help her out in a key crisis in her life, with speed and resources that don't seem to mesh with a poor man's capabilities. Could it be...could it be that he is (gasp) in disguise????!!!! Surely not in a Williamsons' book!
Anyway, Betty doesn't give any thought to that possibility, which means that she has to wrestle with the concept of people being equal in spite of their outward circumstances, and the need to evaluate for herself the right way to treat people. This isn't really too much of a stretch for her, though. She's pretty open-minded.

Lady Betty's commentary on America can be pretty funny. Some of it is still understandable today: for instance, her reaction to skyscrapers. I found it odd that she thought the Statue of Liberty was small, though.

And one unintentionally funny part of the book was where her friend Sally (from Kentucky) is relating her doomed romance, where the man she loved thought that she was going to marry someone else, so he became a monk in a Catholic monastery.

In Kentucky.

Now, I realize that there may be one or two of these institutions around the state, but Sally's story makes it sound like that is just naturally what one would do if thwarted in love and living in the state of Kentucky. I chuckled. A lot.
But, of course, Lady Betty takes away the moral of the story, which is more or less: You should definitely marry for love, or else, who knows? The monastery may be just around the corner.
And I mean, we've all been there. It happens, right? ( )

This was a delightful romp. Lady Betty, an English noblewoman, is packed off to America while her plainer sister endeavors to get engaged. Lady Betty, you see, is just too beautiful! Too sweet! Too enchanting by half! Does she have adventures in America? Do some of them involve dashing American men? I suggest you find out for yourself.

The writing is good, the characters lively and believable, and the ending eminently satisfying. I'm a bit of a Luddite- I ordered the real book through Inter-Library-Loan, but it's also pretty widely available as a free eBook. ( )