THE PRELIMINARIES by A.C.COMER

A young man wants to marry a local girl whose father was recently sent to prison for embezzling another person's money. He talks to the girl's mother, who has three daughters, and she doesn't want any of them to marry, because she doesn't them to grow old and bitter like her as a result of not living the grand life she had hoped for. (She was constantly pushing her husband to provide more and living beyond their lifestyle, which he why he "borrowed" short term loan from another man, and though his investment saved his family from ruin and he paid it back- he got caught.) Then he asked his father for permission to marry and his father said that the girl's familie's reputation was now "tainted" and that would haunt him through their marriage, Then he got an appointment to meet with her father in prison- which he did- and what a story!   Send us a kind review at www.bestof1001stories.com!  Thanks