The Nether Millstone

Fred Merrick White

Jan 1907 · Little, Brown, and Company

Ratings and reviews

On learning from his dying father that he is the lost heir of the Dashwood line, Ralph Darnley travels to Dashwood Hall to reclaim his legacy, only to discover the manor occupied by another branch of the family, Sir George Dashwood and his daughter Mary, whom Ralph had previously met in Paris and fallen in love with, only to be rebuffed on account of his common birth. Sir George has fallen prey to an unscrupulous investor who holds the power to destroy him if he does not give over the hand of his daughter Mary. Ralph could easily resolve the situation by proclaiming his identity and marrying Mary himself, but he still smarts from her earlier rejection, and insists that her pride must be broken so that she will accept him as a common man before he will marry her as the lord of Dashwood Hall. So Ralph allows the Hall to fall into the hands of an imposter heir, and Mary insists on moving to London to work for her living, where her exposure to the nobility of the poor transforms her in a matter of days into ideal matrimonial material.