Fishpingle

" Fishpingle" by Horace Annesley Vachell is a novel set in England. If the men who own land, and little else, wish to keep that land, they must make it pay by the sacrifice of much they hold dear; they must abandon their deep ruts and take the high road of progress.

Excerpt:

Into Fishpingle's room came Alfred Rockley, the first footman, carrying a handsome tankard in one hand and a «chammy» leather in the other. Alfred was a good-looking young fellow, racy of the Wiltshire soil, born and bred upon the Pomfret estates and quite willing to serve a master who lived upon those estates and did not own (or lease) a house in town. A reason for this contentment will appear immediately."