Mr. Scarborough's Family

The world has not yet forgotten the intensity of the feeling which existed when old Mr. Scarborough declared that his well-known eldest son was not legitimate.

Legitimacy declared as public shock before any courtroom — plot as succession fraud from the first sentence of incident — so plot scores 91.

Mr. Scarborough had a niece, one Florence Mountjoy, to whom it had been intended that Captain Scarborough should be married.

Niece named as intended Mountjoy bride before Harry rivalry fully opens — cast as family property and affection — so cast scores 90.

Mr. Grey returned home in a cab on the day of Mr. Tyrrwhit's visit, not in the happiest humor. Though he had got the best of Mr. Tyrrwhit in the conversation, still, the meeting, which had been protracted, had annoyed him.

Protracted covered accusation stalls solicitor temper between legal beats — serial irritation as pace — so pace scores 86.

But now you have to take my high-lows as part of your duty." "And you?" "When a man loves a woman he falls in love with everything belonging to her.

Boots as marital duty joke after legitimacy war — comic compression of love into footwear — so prose scores 90.

Some marvellous stories were told as to his income, which arose chiefly from the Tretton delf-works and from the town of Tretton, which had been built chiefly on his very park, in consequence of the nature of the clay and the quality of the water.

Park become pottery town — entail landscape as industrial cash — so world scores 87.

It will be necessary, for the purpose of my story, that I shall go back more than once from the point at which it begins, so that I may explain with the least amount of awkwardness the things as they occurred, which led up to the incidents that I am about to tell; and I may as well say that these first four chapters of the book--though they may be thought to be the most interesting of them all by those who look to incidents for their interest in a tale--are in this way only preliminary.

Narrator warns that incident-heavy preliminaries are only setup — hook as scandal memory plus method promise — so hook scores 91.

The world has not yet forgotten the intensity of the feeling which existed when old Mr. Scarborough declared that his well-known eldest son was not legitimate.

Bastardy used as father's anti-creditor machine rather than Gothic revelation — late legal comedy as innovation — so innov scores 93.

One has to risk dangers in the world, but one makes the risk as little as possible. I know they won't give me a pony that will tumble down; and I know that I've told you to look to see that they don't. You chose the pony, but I had to choose you. I don't know very much about ponies, but I do know something about a lover, and I know that I have got one that will suit me.

After Mountjoy/Grey wars, ending is pony-risk love certainty — private choice after public legitimacy — so ending scores 88.