A wonderful classic!

Two girls, Jane and Lucilla, are led by Jane's guardian to entertain high hopes. The fortune, however, which Jane was to have inherited, has been lost by unlucky speculations, and the two girls have to set about earning their own livings. A delightful story, well worth reading. --From 1922 back cover

Edith Nesbit (1858 – 1924) was an English author who often wrote for children but this was one of her books for adults.