The Crown of Life

Marriage portion is the question of bourgeois security; Nelly Crouch is the bride, Vincent is the groom, Piers is the jeweller.

Vincent marries into Crouch family + inheritance dispute + long engagement = plot 79.

Vincent Poynings in this her suburb; Nelly Crouch is the bride, Piers is the jeweller, the uncles are the uncles.

Vincent Poynings + Nelly Crouch + Piers + Madame Gorla + uncles = cast 82.

[T]he petition is made; the wedding follows; the question is settled.

16 chapters, weighted to middle = pace 80.

[T]he novel closes with the wedding; the diction is that of late Gissing, pressed and polished.

Late Gissing's polished compressed diction; the wedding and the jewel motif = prose 87.

[T]he atelier of the jeweller is the late-Gissing atelier; the suburban marriage is the late-Gissing marriage.

1890s London jeweller's atelier; suburban marriage life = world 84.

Marriage portion is the question of bourgeois security.

'Marriage portion' as opening one-word question = hook 84.

[T]he jeweller's atelier stands for late Gissing's craft: a small world touched by inheritance.

Late Gissing: a novel of jeweller's craft + marriage + inheritance dispute = innov 84.

[T]he crown is the jeweller's; Vincent's final witness is the final crown.

'The Crown' — Vincent's final witness as jeweller = ending 83.