The Arbiter

In the drawing rooms and boardrooms of Edwardian London, the Gore family lives on reputation as much as on money. Sir William, a retired politician, keeps busy on company boards; his wife Elinor, an invalid since a bout of rheumatic fever, remains the household’s quiet centre; and their daughter Rachel has given herself entirely to caring for her mother. When Rachel is courted by Francis Rendel, a rising secretary to the Foreign Minister, and when Sir William is drawn into a risky mining speculation, private loyalty begins to pull hard against public ambition. The story asks how far a wife or a daughter should go to shield the men she loves, and what honesty costs when family honour is at stake. The Spectator praised its original plot and its clever study of the crossed duties of family life.