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Rivet in Grandfather's Neck

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Cabell in a younger day presents the American manifestation of the geneology of Dom Manuel of Poicteme. A light, "quaint" period piece with only the slyest hint (or foreshadowing (?)) of the "supernatural" and characters that will become the creators of the legend.

The title of the book is derived from a fairy tale in which the carved
figure of an unusual looking man on a cupboard door fell in love with
a pretty little china shepherdess who loved a little chimney-sweep
china figure that stood beside her. The carved figure asked the
figure of a Chinaman who could nod his head and claimed to be the
grandfather of the shepherdess if he could marry her. When the
"grandfather" nodded his head in consent, the couple tried
to flee the area by going through the stove and up the chimney to get
into the outside world. But once outside, the shepherdess found the
outside world "too much," so the lovers returned to their
places. When they returned, they found that the Chinaman had fallen
to the floor and had broken into three pieces. The owners of the
Chinaman had him repaired with rivets. However, the rivet in his neck
kept him from nodding. The next time the carved man made his request
to the Chinaman to marry the shepherdess, he no longer could give his
consent, so the lovers remained together until they were broken into
piece.

The story was set in early 1900 Lichfield. Col. Rudolph
Vartrey Musgrave b. 1856, was the unmarried scion of a family that had
settled in the area in the early 17th century. Like all the
inhabitants of Lichfield, Col. Musgrave's public life was governed by
the rules of chivalry while that of his private one was governed by
the rules of gallantry. He spent his time in honorific activities and
doing genealogical research. His life changed drastically when
Patricia Stapylton, his wealthy second cousin, came to visit him and
his sister Agatha before she married an English Earl. After a series
of fortuitous events, the Col. and Patricia were married and had a son
they named Roger. The story is woven around the Musgraves and various
inhabitants of Lichfield and their relationships. Three enduring
themes in these stories are: frustrated youthful love, personal
stagnation, and the hiding or denying of unpleasant social realities.