In which the assembling of the Featherstone family and acquaintances at Stone Court for the reading of Mr. Featherstone’s will reveals a manifold of expectations, jealousies, and disappointments among those who reckon on their fortunes, while an unfamiliar figure quietly engenders speculation. The estate’s peculiar bequests unfold amidst restrained emotions and conjectures, laying bare the complexities of inheritance and human nature in a somber, distant county still untouched by broader reform.