Lady Glencora scolds the Earl of Brentford for political inactivity, but he warns her to be careful what she wishes for.
The rising politician Phineas Finn eavesdrops as Lady Glencora, the young, pretty and ambitious wife of Plantagenet Palliser, Chancellor of the Exchequer, playfully berates the Earl of Brentford for blocking her husband’s policy initiatives.
Mary Mason could not forgive herself for a past misdeed.
Lady Mary Mason inherited Orley Farm from her husband, Joseph Mason of Groby Park, Yorkshire, who was forty-five years her senior and had a son of his own. A bitter, damaging court-case ensued. The Will was upheld, but later on Mary privately admitted she had forged it, and she never forgave herself.