Book 2: Chapter 4 Summary

Two weeks after Lily's humiliating return from Europe, her aunt dies. Her grieving was admittedly laced with some consolation that her assured impending inheritance would bring. Lily has yet another rude awakening when she is left a mere $10,000, and the rest of her aunt's $400,000 estate is given to her cousin, Grace Stepney.

Upon the realization that she has been cast off both by society and her aunt, the rest of her family effectively abandons her. Lily's only friend who has shown her any loyalty is Gerty Farish. Lily speculates with Gerty that she was disinherited because her aunt had heard rumors that she was trying to marry George Dorset. Gerty advises her to tell everyone the truth about the situation in Monte Carlo, and clear her name, but Lily merely laughs at her naivete, telling her that the only difference between...