Second paragraph of third chapter:

She was not obliged to go to the Tredgold College, because as yet the College had not settled down for the session. She was supposed to be reading at home, and after breakfast she strolled into the vegetable garden, and having taken up a position upon the staging of a disused greenhouse that had the double advantage of being hidden from the windows of the house and secure from the sudden appearance of any one, she resumed the reading of Mr. Manning’s letter.

Latest in my slow procession through the novels of H.G. Wells. This is a feminist story of liberation from the shackles of convention. Ann Veronica is a young woman who is studying science, much to her parents' disapproval, and makes a break for freedom; she is pursued by various different men, becomes a suffragette (the year is 1909) and eventually settles for one of the chaps. I liked this more than some of the other Wells non-sf novels that I have read; his wit at the expense of Ann Veronica's stuffily conventional family did not seem quite as patronising as in some other cases, and his sympathy for the heroine and her friends was contagious. You can get it here.

Next in my Wells progression is The War in the Air, which I'm assuming is more sfnal.