"A View of the Woods" Summary

Mary Fortune, nine-years-old, is the youngest of seven grandchildren and their grandfather's favorite. The grandfather, at the age of seventy-nine, is especially partial to Mary Fortune Pitts, because she has an uncanny resemblance to him physically and, he believes proudly, has inherited his penchant for astute business decisions. The grandfather doesn't particularly care for his own daughter or his son-in-law, Pitts, but he allows them to live on part of his land. He occasionally sells off small plots of the land, which angers Pitts each time. He and Mary Fortune watch the construction underway for a fishing club being built along the side of the lake on the property.

Mary Fortune sits on the hood of the Cadillac and props her bare feet on the shoulders of her grandfather, who is himself seated...