About this story
Reported dead, you return as Madame Vine, spectacled, gray-haired and lisping, governess in the gray parlor to your own children, and watch from behind the disguise as Levison's murder sentence is commuted to transportation. Forty-four chapters carry a secret sale to a flat stone by the lime walk.
How it opens
Your father received a country lawyer in his London library while gout kept him beside a mountain of accounts.
Earl of Mount SevernCarlyle asks about East Lynne, Isabel, though the transaction must remain entirely private.
Archibald Carlyle wished to buy the estate with inherited money, not on behalf of any creditor.
I will examine the title openly with your solicitors and exploit no distress hidden from me.
Earl of Mount SevernThe price may satisfy the mortgage but leave too little to quiet my other debts.
Earl of Mount SevernPublic knowledge would bring every claimant down before I could touch the balance.