“My Lady’s Money,” published in 1877, is a Wilkie Collins novel that centers on the impulsively generous widow Lady Lydiard and her adopted daughter Isabel Miller within a framework of social intrigue and moral suspicion. The story begins with letters from the impoverished artist Mr. Tollmidge claiming kinship with Lady Lydiard’s late husband while the sudden illness of her beloved dog Tommie heightens her charitable impulse. When a banknote enclosed in a letter intended as charity mysteriously disappears suspicion falls upon Isabel and the matter expands beyond simple theft into questions of trust, class prejudice, and reputation. With the arrival of the perceptive investigator Robert Moody and the charming Felix Sweetsir the search for truth unfolds and exposes layers of vanity, compassion, and social hypocrisy.
