Wives and Daughters Chapter 30 - Old Ways and New Ways

In which the loyal ties between old servants and their masters are tenderly observed in the last illness of a faithful gamekeeper, whilst neighbouring landowners contend with the burdens and rivalries of agricultural improvement and estate management. The Squire, chafing against both personal and financial thwarting, encounters a coolly officious land-agent whose manners and words stir family pride and provoke discord, even as the quiet gravity of impending death draws him to a moment of sober reflection.