Plot
When young Frank Gresham came of age, the
once-prosperous Greshamsbury estate had, by mismanagement, become greatly
reduced in value. Boxall Hill, one of the glories of
the property, had been sold to Sir Roger Scatcherd,
who also held mortgages on the rest of the estate. It was evident that Frank
must marry money and his mother, sister of the Earl de Courcy
and very conscious of her rank, would hear of nothing else. Frank, however, was
already in love with Mary Thorne, a niece of Dr. Thorne, his father's
friend and the family doctor - a man of family but with no fortune. It was
known only to the doctor that Mary was the niece of the wealthy Sir Roger,
the illegitimate child of his only sister, and that her father was Dr. Thorne's
scapegrace brother Henry. Roger Scatcherd, then a
village stonemason, had killed his sister's seducer, and while in prison for
the crime, she had married a former sweetheart and emigrated
to
After serving his prison term Roger became a
contractor, made a large fortune and for some conspicuous service to the Empire
was knighted. Dr. Thorne had remained on good terms with him, trying vainly to
restrain the constant drinking that was slowly killing him. After a
particularly violent attack of delirium tremens, Sir Roger asked the Doctor to
be trustee for his fortune, explaining that his son Louis would inherit
and after him the oldest child of his sister in
GEROULD,
WINIFRED GREGORY;
A GUIDE TO TROLLOPE.
© 1948 Princeton University Press,
1976 renewed PUP
Reprinted by permission of
Url: http://www.anthonytrollope.com/
Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés
López
©Davinia Moreno Arroyo
Universitat de Valčncia
Press
damoa2@alumni.uv.es