HEYERWOOD: A Novel

Watching her depart, Mr. Stuart turned to Mary. “I was never so shocked, Mrs. St. Clair. Is her ladyship’s father quite mad?” Perplexedly, Mary replied, “I begin to think he must be, sir. Gerard has ever been cold, unfeeling and greedy, but I have never seen him so lost to propriety before persons outside the family. I can only suppose that the late Earl’s fortune to be larger than we thought, for Gerard to be so enraged.” “As to that, ma’am, Lady Heyerwood will not need to be concerned about expenditures. Despite his best efforts, the Earl was not able to dissipate more than a tithe of his inheritance.” Faintly, Mary said, “Oh, my. And Catherine is in complete control. I quite see, now, why Gerard was beside himself. But how wonderful! Now Catherine will truly be able to have a life while she is still young enough to enjoy it, if only her father will resign himself.” “He will have to resign himself, ma’am, as there is no legal means that will allow him access to her funds. Even were she to become incompetent, all estate business would then revert to a trust for administration on her behalf. His late lordship started making the arrangements as soon as the betrothal was arranged, and thought of all contingencies. I must presume that he came to know her ladyship’s father only too well in the course of the marriage negotiations and afterward.”