Book excerpt: The Small House At Allington (1864) is Anthony Trollope's fifth novel in the sequence that has become known as the Barsetshire series. Set against the vividly imagined backdrop of the cathedral town of Barchester, it is the story of the embittered old bachelor Squire Dale and his impoverished nieces, Lily and Bell. In it, Trollope displays all the humor, drama, and subtle grasp of character and motive that have, for more than a century, made his novels a total pleasure to read.