The Old Bank House, first published in 1949 and long unavailable, welcomes us back into the author's world of comfortable community and generous, probing humor. The Old Bank House is a large and beautiful dwelling belonging to Miss Sowerby, the last of a long Barsetshire line, whose age and dwindling resources are unequal to the task of maintaining such a demanding manse. Having overcome her leeriness about the pedigree of Mr. Sam Adams, Miss Sowerby agrees to sell the family home to the ironmaster, now Member of Parliament, whose social ascendancy has been traced in earlier installments of Thirkell's modern Barsetshire chronicles. But upon learning that Mr. Adams will be living in the house alone once his daughter marries, she warns, "There's only one thing I must tell you about the house, Mr. Adams...It likes a mistress." With the stage thus set, Thirkell commences to choreograph another delightful round of romantic infatuations and cross-purposes before bringing several dancers to rest in the happy poses of a wedding.
