Brewster's Millions guide

Summary

Characters

• EdwinAlso Brewster, PeterGuardianFrom Chapter 1
• MontgomeryAlso Brewster, MontyLeadFrom Chapter 1
• PettingillHelperFrom Chapter 1
• SubwayAlso SmithHelperFrom Chapter 1
• OliverAlso Harrison, NopperHelperFrom Chapter 1
• EllisHelperFrom Chapter 1
• RawlesHelperFrom Chapter 1
• GrayGuardianFrom Chapter 2
• MargaretAlso Gray, PeggyLoveFrom Chapter 2
• BarbaraAlso DrewSuitorFrom Chapter 2
• DrewGatekeeperFrom Chapter 2
• GrantGatekeeperFrom Chapter 3
• RipleyGatekeeperFrom Chapter 3
• JamesAlso SedgwickGatekeeperFrom Chapter 3
• SwearengenAlso JonesGatekeeperFrom Chapter 3
• ElonAlso GardnerHelperFrom Chapter 5
• JoeAlso BragdonHelperFrom Chapter 5
• DanAlso DeMilleHelperFrom Chapter 6
• Mrs. Dan DeMilleHelperFrom Chapter 6
• BillHelperFrom Chapter 11
• AbnerAlso PerryHelperFrom Chapter 17
• BertierHelperFrom Chapter 21
• MohammedVillainFrom Chapter 23
• ConroyHelperFrom Chapter 25

Chapter by chapter

Storylines

• Montgomery wants to live independently despite his grandfather's care and assistance.

  • The unrestricted inheritance gives Montgomery independent means, and he announces his departure from bank employment; his financial independence nevertheless derives from his grandfather's provision.
  • He embraces beginning life again and finds purpose in a shared future with Margaret even if the larger inheritance is lost.

• Edwin becomes Montgomery's guardian after his parents die and supports him with a home, employment and a birthday gift; Edwin's death ends their ongoing relationship.

  • Edwin's death ends the ongoing guardianship, while the delivery of his unrestricted bequest completes a final act of material support.

• Montgomery enjoys the Little Sons' public affection and recognition at his birthday celebration.

  • Montgomery brings his friends together for dinner, promises enjoyment and financial success with their help, and gives several of them paid positions.

• Montgomery's refusal to hear Ellis obstructs the delivery of urgent messages from his grandfather's household; Ellis persists until he reaches Montgomery and delivers them.

• Rawles seeks Montgomery's immediate arrival at Edwin's house; Montgomery receives the request alongside news of Edwin's death.

• Montgomery seeks more cheerful companionship amid the melancholy surrounding his inheritance.

  • Montgomery finds a friendly welcome at the Grays' house and agrees to luncheon and a nostalgic reading visit with Margaret.

• Public knowledge of Montgomery's wealth brings solicitations and intrusive attention that overwhelm him and prompt resistance.

• Montgomery retains Oliver Harrison to protect him against blackmail after hearing warnings about claims targeting wealthy men.

• Montgomery's repeated visits to Drew's house develop into an offer of help, financial guidance and a further dinner invitation.

  • Colonel Drew's approval of Montgomery's encounter with the Censor reassures Montgomery and strengthens his acceptance by the Drew household.
  • Drew turns to Montgomery for urgent financial help; Montgomery's pity and rescue deepen their connection, and Drew and the directors offer favorable interest in gratitude.
  • Drew renews his warmth toward Montgomery and pledges support on his return; Montgomery softens under Drew's kindly reproof.

• Montgomery and Margaret share a sibling-like bond rooted in his childhood with the Grays; her welcome restores his ease and their shared memories draw them together.

  • Montgomery seeks sisterly counsel about Barbara, but his confession causes Margaret distress and disrupts her ability to regard him simply as a brother. He mistakes her response for incredulity and pleasure, while she struggles to encourage him.
  • Margaret comforts Montgomery over Barbara's rejection and shows alarm at his proposed prolonged absence, which he notices.
  • Montgomery chooses his old rooms at the Grays' for treatment, and Margaret's care restores his hope, belonging and serenity.
  • Margaret is distressed by Montgomery's apparent unhappiness over Barbara and withdraws to hide her tears. He mistakes her matchmaking for romantic indifference, while memories of her childhood jealousy restore his spirits.
  • Montgomery increasingly visits Margaret and relies on her loyalty as other friendships become uncertain.
  • Montgomery provides Peggy's favorite books for shared leisure, while her playful admonition shows their continuing affectionate familiarity.
  • Montgomery protects Margaret before recognizing her, then regrets disregarding her advice at the casino and explicitly values earning her respect.
  • Their familiar bond becomes strained by avoidance and mutual jealousy. After Margaret's fall, Montgomery helps her and privately pleads that she stay, admitting how much her presence matters.
  • Margaret expresses concern for his future but renews her trust after his assurance; the opera and their shared preparations deepen their emotional closeness.

• Montgomery wants to share his fortune with the Grays and relieve their mortgage without offending their pride.

  • Montgomery protects the Grays' endangered savings by saving their bank, helping them without a direct gift; the mortgage objective remains unfulfilled.

• Montgomery and Margaret plan to revisit the childhood garret and reread Oliver Optic, with Montgomery staying for luncheon.

• Margaret refuses Montgomery's financial help for herself and her mother and forbids further offers, while he persists in trying to persuade her.

• Montgomery is asked to visit Grant & Ripley concerning a previously unknown uncle's conditional bequest; Margaret urges him to go immediately.

  • Montgomery visits Grant & Ripley, hears the conditional bequest, receives a copy of the will and begins to understand the estate and its conditions.

• Margaret's insistence on an immediate visit to the attorneys clashes with Montgomery's wish to keep their afternoon reading engagement.

  • Montgomery makes the immediate visit Margaret urged, settling their disagreement over whether he should go.

• The deadline, restrictions and forfeiture terms of James's will constrain Montgomery's access to the larger fortune; his initial disbelief gives way to an intention to meet the conditions.

  • Montgomery cannot escape by declining his existing million or freely explain the arrangement to advisers. The spending burden, probable accounting requirements and Jones's enforcement authority become clearer; he nevertheless accepts the conditions.
  • His imagined accountability to Jones restrains an exceptionally costly dinner, while his calculations reveal the difficulty of sustaining enough spending through the deadline.
  • Jones's refusal demonstrates that Montgomery cannot evade the inheritance conditions through his proposed marriage and property transfer.
  • Swearengen's criticism of the dinner expenditure unsettles Montgomery and provokes a mocking exchange; Montgomery also anticipates scrutiny of his betting and rationalizes it as sportsmanship.
  • The required spending rate forces more radical action; he limits his intended exchange venture to the period before September 23 despite apprehension about Jones, and the resulting profit enlarges his remaining task.
  • Incoming gifts threaten his spending progress. Jones clears his uncertainty about giving Christmas presents, but gifts received and Barbara's returned pearls add possessions back.
  • The inheritance constraints complicate the rescue: Montgomery recognizes that deliberately exposing more money to a failing bank could be indefensible to Jones, but commits the funds to protect the depositors.
  • Qualified legal reassurance gives way to renewed anxiety as Jones applies the asset-disposal condition to life insurance.
  • The remaining financial task still constrains him, but he organizes his expenditure around a final-month settlement and gains encouragement from his attorneys.
  • He tries to compensate for days at sea without sufficient spending, but unwanted winnings enlarge the remaining task and leave him distressed.
  • The inheritance requirements continue to constrain his conduct, and his lapses intensify his fear of forfeiture.
  • The approaching deadline makes the delay appear fatal to his claim, but the prospect of an expensive, timely tow revives his belief that he can satisfy the conditions.
  • Accrued interest remains to be spent, and the approaching final effort drives increasingly desperate plans and reduced living arrangements.
  • The approaching settlement shapes his final arrangements. He considers whether marriage would create a disqualifying asset, concludes Margaret cannot count as property acquired with Edwin's money, and plans to arrive without funds.
  • Jones's disappearance introduces uncertainty at the approaching settlement, while Montgomery still intends to finish disposing of his remaining money.
  • Jones accepts the report and receipts as satisfactory under the will.

• Montgomery wants to qualify for James's larger inheritance by disposing of his grandfather's million before the deadline.

  • After calculating the required spending and confirming the estate's wealth, Montgomery accepts the challenge and begins committing money to staff and a lavish household.
  • He has spent almost $100,000 in total and welcomes the destruction of costly decorations, but realizes that many payments cover an entire year and therefore offer limited recurring expenditure.
  • Montgomery works through monetary calculations and identifies society as his best opportunity to spend heavily while receiving fair value.
  • Courtship has set his spending task back, and Jones rejects the proposed marriage and property-transfer shortcut.
  • His attempt to dispose of three thousand dollars through an unlikely wager backfires when his chosen boxer wins, implying winnings instead of the intended loss.
  • Entertaining cannot meet the required spending rate, and his attempted stock-market loss instead adds $58,550 to the fortune he must dispose of.
  • Stock proceeds and valuable puppies add to his burden, but the wreck, compensation, bazaar spending and robbery reduce his property; he also renews his commitment to the spending task.
  • Montgomery refuses the return of stolen money and, with Jones's endorsement, disposes of more money through valuable Christmas gifts.
  • A bank failure wipes out more than $100,000 of his balance, advancing his disposal goal; he hopes for further failures and declines unusually high interest after rescuing Manhattan.
  • Settling the cancelled ball's accounts reduces his money, but unexpectedly modest medical charges frustrate his hopes for greater expense; his urgency to resume spending returns.
  • The orchestra tour incurs losses through broken contracts and lawsuits; his reported total expenditure exceeds four hundred thousand dollars.
  • He renews his determination to meet the challenge; the orchestra tour, Oliver's speculation and prospecting support reduce his fortune.
  • His financial review records substantial expenditure and losses alongside offsetting gains. He judges the hardest spending still ahead, renews his campaign, and receives a favorable assessment from his attorneys.
  • His renewed confidence and expensive entertainments give way to a gambling attempt whose forty-thousand-dollar return increases the fortune he must dispose of.
  • Montgomery repeatedly forgets the inheritance requirements until his actions cannot be reversed and fears he will fail to exhaust the million.
  • After abandoning hope because he expects to retain excess money at the deadline, Montgomery sees a possible route to qualification through the costly tow.
  • He exhausts the original million and investment winnings, welcomes the discovery of further losses through theft and continues toward disposing of roughly $17,000 in remaining interest.
  • Montgomery completes further disposals, balances his accounts and reports the million gone, but still plans to spend his remaining seventy dollars before settlement.
  • Montgomery submits an account balancing his capital and additions against disbursements, but still has remaining dollars to spend and account for before settlement.
  • Although Montgomery spends his remaining pocket money, Jones's disappearance creates an immediate obstacle to the impending inheritance settlement.
  • Evidence of Jones's approval supports Montgomery's compliance, and he submits his final receipts, but the apparent loss of the estate obstructs receiving the inheritance.
  • Jones approves Montgomery's compliance and awards him the inheritance.

• Montgomery plans first to verify James's estate and his own claim, then dispose of his grandfather's million to meet the inheritance conditions.

  • The attorneys obtain documentary confirmation and Jones's detailed terms; Montgomery moves from verification to accepting and implementing the spending plan.
  • He puts the disposal phase into practice through rent, furnishings, a car and paintings, and reviews the rate and duration of his spending.
  • Montgomery tests marriage and a transfer of property as a means of disposing of his fortune, but Jones rebuffs it and directs him to continue his existing task.
  • He puts another spending strategy into practice by backing the apparent underdog through Oliver.
  • He moves from household expenditure to a large speculative venture, executes it and closes the position, although its profit defeats his intended reduction of the fortune.
  • He develops further spending projects, arranges disposal of the puppies, spends heavily at the bazaar and returns his attention to disposing of his fortune.
  • Montgomery consults the attorneys about his progress and receives advice to continue, with no complaint yet received.
  • The spending campaign satisfies the conditions and secures the larger fortune.

• Montgomery recruits his friends into paid posts and begins an expensive household, directing Oliver to obtain a lavish apartment, Pettingill's redecoration and the best servants without regard to expense.

  • The apartment is leased and decorated, furnishings acquired, and servants installed; the expensive household becomes operational.
  • The expensive establishment moves to a lavish rented cottage in St. Augustine, with Joe managing it and the vehicles transported from New York.
  • The organization of his paid friends changes when Oliver resigns and Montgomery accepts his departure.

• Montgomery must conceal the conditional inheritance arrangement, preventing him from explaining his spending problem to prospective advisers; he tells the Little Sons instead that their help will let him double his fortune within a year.

  • He conceals the purpose of his extravagance behind repayment of hospitality and explains his startling gratitude at the destruction as relief that it occurred after dinner.
  • Montgomery longs to tell Margaret his real purpose but instead reassures her with misleading claims that his expenses are low and reports exaggerated.
  • Montgomery considers explaining the truth to Drew but restrains himself, preserving the concealed inheritance arrangement.
  • Montgomery reassures Margaret without revealing his spending obligation and feels hypocritical because his promise of a charitable performance conceals his chief motive.
  • Margaret accepts his apparent ruin and commits to their future without knowing his inheritance strategy; she learns his reason for marrying before settlement only later.
  • Montgomery leaves without disclosing the telegram's contents, defers explanation until tomorrow and refuses Margaret's request to accompany him, sustaining the concealment while increasing her dread.
  • Margaret and the wedding company learn the inheritance arrangement, and Jones supplies its explanation to the newspapers.

• Montgomery's preoccupation leads old associates to conclude resentfully that wealth is changing him.

  • Friends' concern and inquiries restore some of Montgomery's self-respect amid the social disapproval surrounding his conduct.
  • Friends oppose his spending, society laughs at his losses, and concealed ridicule wounds him while strengthening his resolve.
  • Newspaper accounts ridicule his departure, extending the adverse public interpretation of his conduct.
  • Public criticism becomes direct social rejection: former friends refuse to recognize him, deepening his humiliation and despair.
  • Montgomery recognizes the damage to others' confidence, while Jones arranges a public explanation expected to vindicate him.

• Montgomery seeks to keep the urgent appointment prompted by Grant's receipt of dispatches from Montana, hastening from Barbara's automobile to the attorneys' office.

• Montgomery and Barbara develop first-name familiarity; he assumes her feelings exceed friendship, while their ride brings her alarm at his driving and amusement at his abrupt departure.

  • Montgomery enjoys a private moment with Barbara and wants to prevent interruptions, showing his continuing interest without establishing reciprocal romantic feeling.
  • Montgomery seeks another dinner with Barbara, while published insinuations make their association a subject of public speculation.
  • Barbara forgives the Censor encounter despite the undesirable publicity, while Montgomery acknowledges serious love, experiences jealousy and decides to declare himself.
  • Montgomery explicitly declares his love and seeks marriage. Barbara responds with real excitement and tenderness but withholds agreement, leaving him committed to courting her.
  • Montgomery treats his position with Barbara as assured and sends daily flowers, while Barbara believes his attitude has changed after winning her.

• Jones commits to carrying out Sedgwick's wishes faithfully and appoints Grant & Ripley to enforce the inheritance terms.

  • Jones enforces the existing task by rejecting Montgomery's proposed shortcut.
  • Jones collects the assets for personal delivery, verifies compliance and authorizes settlement.

• Grant & Ripley's role enforcing Jones's terms creates objections to representing Montgomery and receiving fees from both sides.

• Montgomery seeks to retain Grant & Ripley as his own paid attorneys; they will consult Jones, with arbitration proposed to settle the fee difficulty.

• Montgomery's friends and staff try to curb the extravagance that serves his concealed spending goal; his explanation that he is repaying hospitality temporarily disarms their objections.

  • Rawles prevents the servants from requesting higher wages, frustrating Montgomery's spending purpose. Montgomery prohibits further interference and commits to eventual increases; Rawles resolves to keep within his position.
  • Gardner opposes the intended purchase, and club members later urge a profitable sale. Montgomery resists their advice, then orders liquidation despite Gardner's expectation of further gains, leaving Gardner shaken.
  • Oliver worries about the forthcoming projects, and Subway grieves over the automobile loss that delights Montgomery.
  • His friends repeatedly urge him to protect his fortune by withdrawing his deposits, but he refuses.
  • The projected ball expense alarms his friends. Work absorbs some criticism, but they cooperate to curb his extravagance and secure cancellation during his illness; his renewed proposal leaves Oliver doubting his reason.
  • Friends renew their opposition, and Oliver's attempt to protect Montgomery through investment instead produces a substantial loss.
  • Margaret suspends her present admonition about his spending but playfully promises to renew it.
  • His friends intervene when Montgomery proposes entertaining the entire regiment, again restraining expenditure that would serve his concealed goal.
  • His companions remain troubled by his extravagance, consider restraining it, and intervene against gambling losses and theft, obstructing his concealed purpose.
  • Margaret fears his spending is consuming his future, while Mrs. Dan successfully interrupts the extravagance with a simple dinner that wins the party's gratitude.
  • His friends turn their opposition to his spending into a collective ultimatum. Montgomery feels humiliated but rejects their demand and offers a different means of returning them home.
  • The friends' effort to curb Montgomery's spending escalates into a secretly redirected voyage and enforced confinement.
  • Abner's concern about an enormous salvage claim contrasts with Montgomery's willingness to pay heavily for a tow, and Montgomery's excited response again alarms his guests.
  • His companions remain distressed by his expenses, and his true friends plead against continued spending and propose an alternative future.
  • Resistance to his spending intensifies into alarm, consideration of confinement and Mrs. Gray's declaration of heartbreak; Margaret also resolves to prevent his final expenditure.

• Montgomery arranges for furnishing dealers to repurchase his furnishings at fair prices if he gives up his establishment within a year.

  • His intention to dispose of household articles before sailing moves the anticipated dismantling of his establishment toward execution, though no repurchase is recorded.

• Montgomery's entertaining so soon after his grandfather's death attracts social condemnation and resentment from prospective heirs affected by the reaction.

  • Montgomery becomes indirectly aware of society's continuing criticism.

• Aunt Emmeline develops lasting resentment toward Montgomery for taking the servants into his own establishment.

• Montgomery plans to practice driving on his expensive automobile and then buy a cheaper car.

  • The automobile is irreparably wrecked during a ride, ending its availability for practice; no cheaper replacement is recorded.

• Montgomery intends to give a dozen dinners to entertain his friends and repay their hospitality.

  • Montgomery visits Mrs. DeMille to arrange the next dinner, records her revised guest list and proposes inviting Barbara again.
  • His entertaining continues to consume money, but he recognizes that dinners cannot sustain the expenditure his concealed task requires.

• Mrs. DeMille becomes Montgomery's social mentor and chaperon, mediating his dinner arrangements and earning credit for their success.

  • Mrs. DeMille continues directing the dinners through guest selection. Montgomery answers her distress over the fallen screen by claiming its collapse was a planned spectacle.
  • Montgomery seeks Mrs. Dan's help; she pledges unconditional support and takes an active role in arranging the ball.

• Montgomery commits to raising the servants' wages after a reasonable period of service and forbids Rawles from obstructing further wage requests.

• The Censor publishes insinuations about Montgomery and Barbara Drew, exposing their association to public gossip.

  • The publicity affects Montgomery's standing with Barbara, but she forgives him, the Drews approve his response, and checking the Censor's personal attacks makes him a social hero.

• Montgomery fears the Duke is a rival for Barbara's affection; Margaret's impression that Barbara cares for the Duke intensifies his jealousy.

  • Montgomery understands that winning Barbara requires competition, sustaining the rivalry he already fears.
  • Montgomery regards his position with Barbara as assured and ceases worrying about competitors.

• Courting Barbara distracts Montgomery from disposing of his million; he calculates that four days of courtship have set his financial task back almost eight thousand dollars.

  • He commits to continued courtship and explicitly recognizes the simultaneous demands of winning Barbara and losing his fortune.
  • Daily flowers consume substantial income, but his ongoing social expenditures still fall short of the rate needed to dispose of his fortune.
  • Rivalry draws him back into active courtship. His decision to resume undivided attention to spending is interrupted by efforts to appease Barbara and the distress of their quarrel.

• Montgomery proposes marrying and transferring all his property to his wife as a shortcut to completing his spending task, and seeks Jones's permission.

• Montgomery commits to declaring his love to Barbara that evening, encouraged by Margaret.

  • He carries out his intention to declare his love to Barbara, although he does so during an afternoon visit.

• Montgomery bets three thousand dollars on an apparently outmatched amateur to reduce his fortune, using Oliver to place the wagers; the amateur's unexpected victory defeats the intended loss.

• Barbara withholds agreement to marriage and determines to make Montgomery pay for unsettling her, while he seeks an immediate commitment and then accepts continued courtship.

  • His attempt at appeasement ends in a quarrel and estrangement, with Barbara vowing never to love him again.
  • Montgomery renews his effort to secure Barbara's consent to marriage, then renounces further pursuit after she attributes coercive motives to his generosity.

• Montgomery seeks to redeem his reputation and demonstrate business intelligence after ridicule of his extravagance wounds him, especially before Margaret and Mrs. Gray.

  • The stock venture restores his social favor and establishes a reputation for financial foresight.

• Montgomery undertakes a large, deliberately losing speculation in Lumber and Fuel to accelerate his spending; after his purchase revives the stock and strike news renews its rise, he liquidates the position with an unintended net profit of $58,550.

  • The completed speculation yields money and public credit, confirming that the intended losing venture has produced the opposite result.

• Montgomery's insistence on the stock purchase strains his friendship with Gardner: his rebuke mortifies Gardner and leaves Montgomery feeling guilty.

• Montgomery plans larger January bills and ambitious spring and summer projects to accelerate his spending.

  • His ambitious spending projects take concrete form in preparations for the ball and a proposed prolonged yacht cruise.
  • Montgomery orders vintage champagne, treats postponement as an opportunity for additional expense and resumes planning extravagant spending during recovery.
  • The yachting project absorbs about $40,000, and Montgomery commits to further systematic expenditure abroad.

• Montgomery intends to have Bragdon sell the six newly acquired puppies for $25 each.

  • The report records $150 from puppy sales, matching the planned sale of six puppies at $25 each.

• Grimes's pursuit of Barbara displaces Montgomery and provokes a renewed campaign to drive his rival away.

• Montgomery and Barbara become estranged after her criticism wounds him and their quarrel leaves both distressed.

  • Montgomery attempts reconciliation by sending Barbara valuable pearls, but she returns them and leaves him hurt.
  • Reports of Barbara mocking his financial judgment reinforce their estrangement; he insists that his help to her father's bank remain unknown to her.
  • Montgomery mistakes Barbara's invitation for an opening to reconciliation. Their enforced civility at dinner permits another attempt, but her accusation about the bank rescue deepens their estrangement and he breaks off reconciliation.
  • His silence about Barbara, including her omission from his detailed ball plans, leads the Little Sons to suspect trouble between them.
  • Montgomery regards Barbara's rejection as settled contempt and explains the estrangement to his guests. Barbara confirms her rejection and defends it through accusations about his character and spending.
  • Barbara reports an attempt to reconcile and acknowledge his generosity, but describes an unpleasant response. Drew recognizes their troubled relationship and hopes for reconciliation.

• Montgomery protects Bill from prosecution, earning his gratitude, the return of his watch and an offer of future help.

• Bill promises Montgomery to try another trade.

• Montgomery and Mrs. Dan advance an elaborate ball, with Mrs. Dan undertaking invitations, the guest list and exceptional favors.

  • Illness defeats Montgomery's insistence that the ball proceed. Invitations and arrangements are cancelled, flowers are spent and the orchestra goes on tour. He proposes mid-Lent, but no replacement date has been arranged.
  • Oliver renews preparations for the ball and informs Montgomery of its date.
  • The rescheduled ball takes place successfully after a change of design, although Montgomery recognizes ridicule beneath the compliments.

• Montgomery plans to leave New York on a chartered yacht for three or four months; Margaret reacts with alarm.

  • Oliver continues preparing the yacht cruise and reports progress on chartering the Flitter.
  • Montgomery presses for departure with loyal friends; Flitter is chartered for four months and scheduled to be ready April 10.
  • Montgomery funds the yacht, announces his Mediterranean cruise, and leaves New York aboard the Flitter with his guests.
  • The extended yacht journey continues: the Flitter meets the party at Naples, and the travelers subsequently leave Egypt.
  • The yacht leaves Alexandria and then Gibraltar, and Montgomery changes its itinerary to include the North Cape.
  • Montgomery seeks to prolong the chartered cruise and insists on continuing to the North Cape even if his guests leave.
  • Montgomery intends to return directly to New York, but the broken shaft, displacement and calm prevent the planned passage; the available tow would take them to Southampton.

• Montgomery distributes his deposits among five banks hoping another failure will reduce his fortune.

  • The financial review records a bank-failure loss of $113,468.25, advancing the intended reduction of his fortune through bank exposure.

• A run threatens Manhattan's survival and its depositors' money; limited outside assistance leaves Drew dependent on Montgomery, whose additional deposits ultimately save the bank.

  • Drew's disclosure confirms that Montgomery's intervention saved the bank and preserved the family's financial position.

• Montgomery seeks to restore confidence in Manhattan and protect its depositors, committing to its rescue when he remembers that the Grays' money is endangered.

  • The account of the completed rescue confirms that Montgomery achieved his immediate aim of saving the bank and protecting the money endangered by its failure.

• Montgomery makes his financial rescue conditional on Barbara never learning of his help, and Drew promises secrecy.

  • Drew initially preserves the secret but then tells Barbara that Montgomery rescued the bank. Barbara's accusation reveals the disclosure to Montgomery.

• Barbara wrongly interprets Montgomery's rescue of her father's bank as an attempt to buy or compel her consent to marriage; her accusation drives him to abandon reconciliation.

  • Barbara's distrust persists: she says she discovered Montgomery's objectionable character and cites his extravagance and predicted poverty. He believes her contempt is settled.
  • Barbara's reported effort to express appreciation for his generosity suggests movement beyond her earlier accusation, but Montgomery's unpleasant response leaves the breach unsettled.

• Critical appendicitis interrupts Montgomery's spending plans, forces the ball's cancellation and requires surgery and prolonged recuperation.

  • Medical restrictions and confinement continue to frustrate Montgomery, but permission to drive the following day marks progress in his recovery.
  • Montgomery returns to New York with restored comparative strength and resumes spending and ball preparations.

• Montgomery conditionally authorizes Elon to put the contracted orchestra on a national concert tour; the tour proceeds but proves difficult to manage.

  • The orchestra tour produces broken contracts, lawsuits and financial losses, bringing Elon near despair while Montgomery finds consolation in its failure.
  • The orchestra and Elon return from the completed tour, whose net loss exceeds $56,000.

• Encouraged by Margaret during recovery, Montgomery wishes to find useful work he can do well.

  • Distress at Margaret's situation accompanies a concrete commitment to begin serious work and rebuild his fortunes tomorrow.
  • Montgomery commits to earning his living, and Dan implicitly offers employment.

• Montgomery accepts a month's recuperation in Florida, commissions Oliver to rent a residence and insists that Margaret and Mrs. Gray accompany him.

  • The Florida stay takes concrete form through a three-month cottage lease and the establishment's relocation; Margaret is present with Montgomery.
  • The review records $18,500 spent on the Florida trip, care, cottage, and living expenses, establishing that the recuperation trip occurred.

• Margaret tries to reconcile Montgomery and Barbara, believing he secretly longs for Barbara and that their estrangement rests on a misunderstanding.

• Barbara's friendly reception draws Margaret closer, but their discussion of Montgomery exposes disagreement and prompts Barbara to justify her rejection.

• Margaret's attempt at reconciliation meets Barbara's resistance and hardens into a dispute over Montgomery's character and his inability during illness to answer Hampton's insults.

• Montgomery explores life insurance as an expenditure, but Jones rules that an insured life would be an asset requiring disposal before the deadline.

• Oliver confesses an unauthorized speculation that lost Montgomery $60,000 and resigns from shame; Montgomery forgives him and ultimately accepts his departure without withdrawing his friendship or support.

  • Oliver's departure completes the accepted resignation, and the financial review records the $60,000 loss associated with him.
  • Montgomery's hearty welcome of Oliver confirms that their friendship survives his departure.

• Oliver determines to repay Montgomery's $60,000 loss through his own work and seeks gold in the western mountains.

  • Oliver stakes a mining claim and obtains Jones's backing and employment; repayment is not established.

• Montgomery finances a year of Oliver's gold prospecting in exchange for an equal share of the returns; Oliver accepts and departs for the Rocky Mountains.

  • Montgomery's stake supports Oliver's prospecting, which produces a claim and an association with Jones.

• Montgomery takes personal control of his affairs and adopts a systematic spending campaign, relying on apartment overhead and extravagance abroad before settling his remaining obligations in the final month.

  • Montgomery pursues costly commitments abroad through political expenditure, collect cables and lavish hospitality; the dinner exhausts the yacht's provisions and requires complete restocking.
  • He implements his overseas spending campaign through expansive hotel accommodation, a financed carnival and an attempt to lose money at Monte Carlo.
  • Montgomery continues his spending campaign abroad through carnival expenses, another advance hotel payment and an exceptionally costly villa arrangement.
  • Montgomery expands his spending abroad through automobile purchases and two opera performances; Jones's costly cable redirects his attention to the underlying duty.
  • His intended systematic spending campaign is undermined by repeated failures to keep Jones's requirements in mind.
  • Financial uncertainty renews Montgomery's determination to increase spending abroad; he redirects the cruise toward the North Cape to add more than thirty thousand dollars in expenses.
  • The guests explicitly seek to stop further cruise expenditure, threatening the prolonged extravagance abroad on which his spending campaign depends.
  • The enforced delay convinces Montgomery that he cannot carry out his remaining spending and settlement campaign before September 23.
  • Montgomery resumes systematic spending, settles cruise and household obligations, sells his furnishings and plans how to exhaust the remaining cash.
  • His systematic campaign reaches its final accounting and disposal stage, with only the remaining cash and settlement arrangements still to complete.
  • The systematic spending campaign reaches its accounting stage, with reported disbursements matching total funds and the remaining cash scheduled for disposal that evening.

• Montgomery plans to sell or give away household articles before sailing.

  • Although delayed until after the cruise, the disposal of his household goods is completed and his apartments are relinquished.

• Montgomery recognizes his fellow voyagers as his truest friends and trusts their unconditional loyalty; their affectionate nickname reinforces his place among them.

  • His friends help stage his entertainment, protect his money and celebrate his apparent good fortune, demonstrating support despite misunderstanding his needs.
  • Although he recognizes that his friends oppose him for his sake, their secret agreement and ultimatum leave him feeling isolated and humiliated, straining his confidence in their unconditional support.
  • His friends enforce their opposition through confinement and a disabled bell. Montgomery nevertheless finds amusement and relief in the situation.
  • Shared danger brings a collective determination to face the worst courageously, while Montgomery supports his companions and restores their hope.
  • True friends show concern and offer practical support as supposed friends abandon him; Joe shares his reduced hotel accommodation.

• Montgomery learns that free-silver agitation allegedly threatens to double the burden of meeting his spending requirement.

• Montgomery commits to financing opposition to free silver at any cost and requests frequent collect cablegrams.

• Montgomery recognizes Mrs. Dan's love for her husband, abandons his mistaken interpretation of their marriage, and envies Dan's position.

• Reggy's failure to attempt a rescue despite his swimming ability brings condemnation from his fellow passengers.

• Montgomery undertakes to save the fallen sailor, risking drowning himself, and afterward seeks proper care and higher wages for him.

  • Montgomery's earlier rescue of Conroy now bears reciprocal consequences: Conroy saves Margaret, pledges his devotion, and receives Montgomery's public acknowledgment.

• Montgomery organizes a lavish village carnival, securing civic cooperation and involving his friends; the festivities culminate in public recognition.

  • The completed carnival has cost a little over six thousand dollars, and Montgomery turns to fresh spending opportunities elsewhere.

• Reggy's attempt to restrain and unmask Margaret brings Montgomery to her defense; Montgomery subsequently learns the assailant's identity and frees him from police custody.

• Montgomery gambles to lose money, then tries increasingly unfavorable strategies to erase his winnings; persistent success defeats the attempt and he leaves with forty thousand dollars.

• Montgomery pursues an extravagant house party at Lake Como; after repeated rental refusals, he secures the villa by adding a latest-model French automobile to his increased offer.

  • Montgomery ends the villa interlude and takes his guests to Milan.

• Bertier finds Montgomery a congenial client and becomes devoted to him while helping him obtain the villa.

  • Despite being stung by Montgomery's irony, Bertier enthusiastically manages the automobile order and opera arrangements, taking professional pride in the opportunities.

• Margaret's apparent avoidance troubles Montgomery; his suspicion of her attachment to Pettingill and her insinuation about Mrs. Dan produce mutual jealous accusations, leaving the reason for her withdrawal unexplained.

  • Margaret's avoidance of Pettingill reassures Montgomery, and renewed trust and shared activity draw them closer, though the reason for her earlier withdrawal remains unexplained.
  • Shared remorse restores understanding and Montgomery recognizes his love, but he remains uncertain of Margaret's affection; the earlier reasons for her withdrawal remain unexplained.
  • Montgomery avoids Margaret, then seeks her reassurance; her remaining with Pettingill renews his jealousy, and he concludes that she despises his judgment.
  • Margaret's reserve begins to soften, and her concern prompts a determined personal rescue, easing the distance between them without explaining its original cause.
  • Mutual declarations of lifelong love and their engagement settle Montgomery's uncertainty about Margaret's attachment.

• Montgomery organizes an Italian automobile excursion, purchasing five cars with arrangements to resell them at a substantial reduction after six weeks; the party travels from Milan to Venice.

  • The automobile touring procession disbands as the party continues through Rome to meet the yacht at Naples; disposal of the purchased cars is not established.

• Montgomery commissions a lavish private opera performance at La Scala, then fulfills a promise to provide a second performance for poor spectators, with Margaret helping prepare it.

• Mrs. Dan counters Montgomery's extravagance by inducing him to postpone departure for a deliberately simple dinner, earning the party's grateful recognition despite his opposition to a testimonial.

• Montgomery resolves to return to Italy and experience it more slowly.

• Mohammed seeks to marry Margaret, treating Montgomery's amusement as encouragement and his own public courtship as a settled marriage agreement; Montgomery opposes the demand, while Margaret feels revulsion and stops Mohammed's expected departure with her.

  • Mohammed's demand escalates into armed confrontation and threats of forcible seizure. Negotiation and the sailors' resistance secure his departure, but he allows only another day and vows to return.
  • The abduction is linked to Mohammed's retainer and emissaries, escalating his coercive pursuit of Margaret. His flight prevents officials from holding him accountable.

• Montgomery invites Mohammed aboard to enjoy Margaret's anticipated rejection and agrees with Richard and Subway to keep the proposal a surprise; Richard and Joe arrange the women's presentation, but Valentine warns Margaret beforehand.

  • Margaret and Mary reverse Montgomery's intended joke by pretending acceptance. The deception produces real danger, Margaret reveals it to Montgomery, and Mohammed ultimately leaves.

• Montgomery's amusement at Mohammed's courtship provokes Margaret to confront the suitor and rebuke Montgomery for rude teasing.

  • Margaret's retaliatory prank and subsequent withdrawal give way to mutual understanding as she and Montgomery acknowledge their shared blame and penitence.

• Montgomery recognizes his love for Margaret, but her apparently quiet affection leaves him uncertain of her feelings.

  • Despite the emotional force of their reunion, Montgomery interprets Margaret's restrained gratitude as sisterly affection and assumes she will love someone else. Mrs. Dan recognizes the misunderstanding and begins intervening.
  • His desire for Margaret's consolation meets continued uncertainty, jealousy and his belief that she regards him as a hopeless idiot.
  • Margaret's softening reserve, distress and intervention develop her attachment to Montgomery, although neither declares romantic feelings.
  • Margaret's intervention makes Montgomery intensely happy and strengthens his support for her, but he mistakes her motive for pity. He contemplates confessing his love if death becomes imminent.
  • Watching Margaret continues to provoke alternating hope and fear in Montgomery, while her grief shows concern without settling his uncertainty about her love.
  • Montgomery declares his love, learns that Margaret reciprocates it and becomes engaged to her.

• Invaders secretly prepare and execute Margaret's abduction, escaping in boats; pursuit exposes them, and the man holding her threatens her life to prevent rescue.

  • The captor is identified as Mohammed's principal retainer, killed, and separated from Margaret. Her recovery defeats the abduction, and the remaining abductors scatter as the rescuers abandon pursuit.

• Montgomery undertakes to recover the abducted Margaret, offering rewards and leading an armed pursuit; her captor's threat to kill her obstructs his approach.

  • Conroy kills the threatening captor and retrieves Margaret from beneath the water; Montgomery helps support her, and the rescuers bring her safely aboard the Flitter.

• Conroy repays Montgomery's earlier rescue by saving Margaret and declares his devotion to them both; Montgomery publicly credits him as the true hero.

• Mohammed escapes official accountability for the abduction by fleeing to the desert, while Dan proposes a retaliatory assault.

• Mrs. Dan recognizes the romantic misunderstanding between Margaret and Montgomery and begins a tactful campaign to bring them together.

• Montgomery proposes extending Flitter's cruise to the North Cape and maintains his intention despite his guests' opposition.

  • The captain receives orders for Boston and sails westward while Montgomery is prevented from countermanding them.
  • Montgomery abandons further cruising, books passage home and delegates the yacht's repair and return.

• The guests secretly organize an intervention to curb Montgomery's spending and demand that Flitter sail for New York; Montgomery counters by offering to send them home by steamer at his expense.

  • The intervention becomes a secret voyage to Boston enforced by Montgomery's imprisonment. The yacht sails westward, although Margaret subsequently releases him.
  • Margaret ends Montgomery's confinement, and he resumes directing the voyage, rejecting Boston in favor of New York.

• Margaret's loyalty to Montgomery clashes with the guests' intervention: she initially defends his authority, then joins their agreement and feels guilty about betraying him.

  • Margaret turns against those confining Montgomery and breaks with their intervention by freeing him, though her belief that he is terrified and helpless proves mistaken.
  • Margaret acts against the intervention to release Montgomery and fears being considered a traitor; he promises to defend her and accompanies her before the others.

• Abner assists the mutineers while trying to protect Montgomery from indignity, and feels guilty about secretly ordering the voyage to Boston.

• Montgomery resolves to resist his confinement and countermand the voyage to Boston, but the locked door and disabled bell prevent immediate action.

  • Released by Margaret, Montgomery rejoins the company and asserts his intention to take the yacht to New York instead of Boston.

• Montgomery accepts Dan's thousand-dollar wager on escaping unaided, then deliberately preserves his confinement when an unguarded door offers escape.

  • Montgomery waives Dan's offered thousand dollars because Margaret helped him escape, so he did not fulfill the wager's condition.

• Margaret resolves to release Montgomery despite the others' refusal to help, reaches his stateroom and unlocks it herself.

  • Margaret carries out her decision and frees Montgomery from his cabin.

• Storm damage disables Flitter far off course; a subsequent calm obstructs reaching a repair port and threatens Montgomery's return before his inheritance deadline.

  • The tow ends their stranding, and Montgomery obtains passage and reaches New York.

• Abner admires Montgomery's composure and courage in danger, and Montgomery appreciates his tribute.

• Montgomery seeks to sustain his companions' courage while they wait out the storm, using jokes and stories to restore hope.

• Montgomery resolves to tell Margaret he loves her if their danger becomes fatal.

• Montgomery temporarily abandons hope of the Sedgwick inheritance and plans his future on one hundred thousand dollars.

  • His renewed campaign to exhaust his money supersedes the fallback plan to retain one hundred thousand dollars.

• Montgomery seeks a negotiated tow to Southampton and offers up to one hundred thousand dollars for arrival by the 27th, seeing a renewed opportunity to meet his financial objective.

  • Glencoe brings the party to Southampton, and Montgomery agrees to pay $50,000 for the tow.

• Dan and Mrs. DeMille seek to persuade Montgomery to abandon his spending campaign and recover in the mountains; Dan offers financial help, employment and security.

  • Montgomery plans a week in the hills, and Dan invites him to visit afterward with an implicit offer of work.

• Montgomery transfers his Boston terriers to Joe while announcing an eventual reward for their return.

  • Montgomery requests an advertisement to recover the terriers.

• Montgomery's friends consider placing him in a sanitarium because they interpret his final expenditures as madness.

• Montgomery prepares his final expenditure report for Grant and Ripley on September 22 and his settlement with Jones on September 23.

  • The receipts reach the attorneys, Montgomery submits his report, and Ripley reads it aloud; the final cash accounting and settlement remain pending.
  • Montgomery submits receipts for his final expenditure and reaffirms his contractual obligations, although he abandons the urgency of the planned nine o'clock visit.
  • Jones examines and approves the expenditure report and receipts, securing the inheritance.

• Montgomery and Margaret agree to marry September 23 at seven in the morning, before the inheritance settlement, accepting a life together despite apparent poverty.

  • The couple reaffirm their commitment, Montgomery obtains the license, Joe and Elon receive their wedding roles, and Elon promises to bring the minister the next morning.
  • Margaret reaffirms her commitment despite expected poverty, and they marry after postponing the ceremony to nine.

• Montgomery intends to spend his remaining seventy dollars on an outing with Margaret, while she intends to preserve the money.

  • Montgomery arranges the afternoon drive and maintains his intention to spend his remaining dollars that evening; Margaret's opposing intention is not settled.
  • Margaret persuades Montgomery to abandon Sherry's for a quieter outing, but he ultimately exhausts his remaining pocket money paying for the studio supper.

• Montgomery plans to borrow from Joe for the marriage license and minister's fee so that he reaches the inheritance settlement penniless and in debt.

  • Joe pays the license fee, Montgomery promises repayment the following afternoon, and Elon undertakes to bring the minister; payment of the minister's fee is not yet recorded.

• Montgomery asks Joe and Elon to conceal from Margaret the financial arrangement for obtaining the marriage license and minister.

• Jones cannot be located as the inheritance settlement approaches; his telegrams remain unclaimed, and the attorneys seek information from Montana contacts.

  • The attorneys confirm Jones's disappearance and report that Swearengen is also untraceable. Their urgent summons shocks Montgomery and prompts his immediate departure.
  • Jones and his secretary remain missing; police are searching, and reports of liquidated assets raise competing suspicions of flight and murder without establishing either.
  • Jones arrives in New York, visits the attorneys and approves the inheritance.

• An unnamed bearded visitor seeks Montgomery and plans to call at Mrs. Gray's; his identity and purpose remain unknown.

  • The unidentified visitor has called at the Gray house and promises another attempt tomorrow unless he finds Montgomery downtown tonight; Montgomery learns of the visit, but the visitor's identity and purpose remain unknown.
  • The bearded visitor is identified as Oliver Harrison, carrying Jones's assurance that the inheritance is secure.

• Montgomery plans a recuperative vacation beginning the following day after the physical strain of his spending campaign.

  • Montgomery commits to work beginning tomorrow and arranges to collect financial assistance, displacing his planned recuperative vacation.
  • Montgomery announces a week in the hills, and Jones offers the newlyweds his private railcar.

• Montgomery resolves to answer the attorneys' urgent summons alone, promising to return by one and explain the following day.

  • Montgomery answers the summons alone, leaves the lawyers and returns to the studio; his promised explanation remains outstanding.
  • Montgomery returns from the attorneys and gives Margaret the promised explanation.

• The liquidation and apparent disappearance of the Sedgwick estate threaten Montgomery's inheritance even if he fulfills its spending conditions.

  • The assets were collected for delivery rather than stolen, and Jones awards Montgomery the inheritance.

• Montgomery resolves to catch Jones's secretary, whom he believes manipulated and murdered Jones to steal the fortune.

  • The supposed criminal secretary is Oliver, Jones is alive, and the explanation removes the basis for pursuit.

• Grant and Ripley offer Montgomery financial help, which he plans to collect before noon the following day.

• Grant and Ripley undertake to obtain the latest information from the authorities and ensure a proper investigation of the disappearance.

  • Jones's appearance and explanation establish that the feared disappearance requires no criminal investigation.

• Despite his apparent ruin, Montgomery resolves to keep his promise to be cheerful among his friends.

• Montgomery resolves to earn a living and vindicate Margaret's faith, but recognizes that his apparent extravagance has damaged his business prospects.

• Jones invites Montgomery to complete the inheritance's legal formalities at his hotel, with Grant and Ripley entrusted with the settlement.

• Jones offers Montgomery the opportunity to repurchase his mines and ranches at their original prices and recommends doing so.

Places

New York, The studio, M-- Hospital in Portland, Montana, Portland, Australia, The Park, Yucatan Building, Paris, Butte, San Francisco, Boston, The Astoria, Florida, Italy, St. Augustine, Chicago, Mediterranean, Rocky Mountains, Gibraltar, Bay of Lyons, Nice, The Riviera, Monte Carlo, Como, Genoa, Florence, Lugano, Milan, Hotel Cavour, La Scala, The Cova, Venice, Brescia, Verona, Vicenza, Africa, Egypt, Athens, Naples, Rome, Alexandria, North Cape, Philadelphia, Canary Islands, Southampton, Scotland, England, London, Omaha