Plot summary
The Small House at Allington concerns the Dale family, who live in the "Small House", a dower house intended for the widowed mother of the owner of the estate. The landowner is the bachelor Squire of Allington, Christopher Dale. Dale's mother having died, he has allocated the Small House, rent-free, to the widow of his youngest brother and her daughters Isabella ("Bell") and Lilian ("Lily").
Bernard, the Squire's nephew (the son of his other late brother and hence his heir), brings his friend Adolphus Crosbie to Allington and introduces him to the family. Crosbie is handsome, and well regarded in London society. Bell and Lily are impressed by Crosbie's charm and worldliness; Lily, the younger and wittier sister, labels him an Apollo. She and Crosbie grow increasingly intimate during his stay, and before leaving he proposes to her. Mrs. Dale has no money for a dowry, but Crosbie thinks the Squire might make some provision for Lily, given that, in many ways, he treats her and Bell as if they were his daughters. When asked, the Squire informs him that he has no such intention, which leads Crosbie to reflect that, whereas his salary as a clerk at the General Committee Office allows him to live comfortably as a bachelor, if he were to marry, and have a family to support, they would have to live very humbly. The engagement is made public and celebrated in Allington, but when Lily learns of Crosbie's misunderstanding regarding her possible fortune, she offers to break off the engagement with no hard feelings. Crosbie refuses, because he is impressed by this noble gesture and is genuinely fond of Lily.
From Allington, Crosbie goes to Courcy Castle. Once he is back among people of high society, Crosbie's image of married life with Lily on his small salary grows bleaker. Rumours of his engagement have reached the Castle, but Crosbie evades questions about it. Thus, the Countess de Courcy views him as a viable match for her one single daughter still of marriageable age, Alexandrina, who had previously struck up a friendship with Crosbie in London. Pressed by Alexandrina, in a moment of weakness he asks her to marry him. The Countess makes sure that the engagement is firmly settled between Crosbie and the Earl before the former leaves. Crosbie immediately begins to have second thoughts; he is now engaged to two women, and although he prefers Lily (who is younger, prettier and more intelligent), she is a country girl whom he can jilt with few repercussions, whereas Alexandrina is the daughter of a prominent family. He writes a letter to Lily and Mrs. Dale, breaking off the engagement. Ironically, he is given a rise in salary almost as soon as he returns to London, and he muses that he could after all have had a comfortable, happy life married to Lily.
Lily is heartbroken, but puts on a brave face, claiming she is happy for Crosbie and Alexandrina. However, she refuses to entertain the idea of marrying another man and so rejects repeated proposals from Johnny Eames, a family friend who has loved Lily since childhood (and who first confesses his feelings to her when he hears of her engagement). Eames is a lowly clerk in the Income Tax Office, but his expectations rise after he saves the Earl de Guest from a bull. After the incident, Eames becomes a close friend of the childless earl and his spinster sister, Lady Julia de Guest. The Earl takes an interest in Johnny's career and effectively adopts him. When Eames encounters Crosbie at a London railway station, he assaults him and gives him a black eye. Mrs. Dale, the Squire, Lord de Guest and Lady Julia all hope Lily will eventually agree to marry Johnny, but she remains true to the memory of her Apollo, as she does not love Eames in the way she had loved Crosbie.
Meanwhile, Christopher Dale, the Squire, encourages Bernard to court Bell, as he would be happy to see his niece and nephew marry and live together on the family estate. Bell, however, thinks of Bernard as a brother. When Mrs. Dale and her daughters feel Christopher is pressuring Bell to marry Bernard, they announce that they will leave the Small House so that they will no longer be beholden to him. The Squire persuades them to stay, and gives both girls a sum of money regardless of whom they marry or if they marry at all. Bell eventually marries John Crofts, the young doctor in the area; they have had feelings for each other since she was a young girl.
Crosbie quickly learns that he has little to gain from marrying into the de Courcy family. When he returns to London, his future sister-in-law Amelia keeps a close eye on him, and the Countess, together with Amelia's attorney husband Gazebee, bind all Crosbie's finances to the marital estate and make him pay for a furnished home in a respectable neighbourhood in order to keep up appearances. Neither Crosbie nor Alexandrina is happy with their married life, and less than four months after the wedding Alexandrina leaves with her mother to live in the spa town of Baden-Baden, Germany. Crosbie gladly pays to regain his freedom.
