Sir Willoughby Patterne, handsome, rich and adored by his county, expects every woman to orbit him. Jilted once, he becomes engaged to Clara Middleton, who discovers at his country house that marriage to him would mean being absorbed; while the devoted Laetitia Dale and the scholarly cousin Vernon Whitford look on, Clara searches for a way out.
Meredith’s 1879 comedy of manners, opening with his essay on the Comic Spirit, dissects vanity with a surgeon’s patience. Download the free EPUB.