This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design. John Hungerford has spent a lifetime turning thrift into a fortune, rising from a harsh workhouse childhood to become a Baltimore millionaire of three million dollars, yet his wealth has cost him warmth, intimacy, and peace. As the family story widens, his brother James's modest domestic life, the ambitions of Mrs. Lynch, and the quiet rivalry over inheritance reveal how money distorts affection and reshapes every relationship around it. When John draws his widowed sister-in-law's family back into his orbit, the intelligent, gentle Eugene wins his favor, alarming those who fear being displaced in the succession. After Hungerford's death, Baltimore buzzes less over the man than over the estate, and his elaborate will exposes a desperate attempt to preserve the name "John Hungerford" beyond the grave. Eugene receives the bulk of the fortune only if he marries, has a son, and names that son John Hungerford; otherwise the money is divided among relatives and charities. The story then moves to Poppleton, where romance, suspicion, and danger gather around Mary, Dr. Bilks, Buckstone, and Richard Birch. As Eugene defends his love for Mary and Birch struggles to clear his own name, the mystery deepens amid questions of loyalty, deception, and moral courage.
