About this story
Your late father's will still requires you to give away half your fortune to strangers in need, a duty Sir Tom would rather let lapse now that marriage has made you both comfortable. Before the question is settled, your excluded half-brother Jock arrives for his first long visit and asks, gently, whether happiness has made you forget your father's terms.
How it opens
Sir Tom returned from his election victory with the county's cheers still following the carriage.
You and the baby won more votes in one minute than my speech won all afternoon.
Little Tom had clapped from the balcony until the crowd claimed him as a political prodigy.
NurseHe enjoyed the noise, my lady, but another appearance will end in tears.
Choose
Give him the credit while admitting the baby's applause helped.
Remind him that the voters came to choose their representative, not his household.