Coelebs

'Coelebs' is a novel written by F. E. Mills Young. The story begins with our protagonist, John Musgrave, a bachelor, hiring a new housemaid named Eliza, who is middle-aged and plain, but proud of being respectable. The cook, Martha, would have preferred someone younger and more energetic, but John Musgrave values respectability in his servants. The gardener, Bond, and the chauffeur also consider Eliza to be neither useful nor ornamental.