Mrs. Craddock (Electronic book text)

one knows. The landed gentry, so soon to lose their power, are the last to suspect. Bertha Ley is mistress of Court Ley, a great spread of land. She marries Edward Craddock, a man beneath her station, but quite the essence of new order. A gentleman farmer, he is steady and a doer who turns Court Ley into an efficient farm. But Bertha wants passion and ardor: she gets reality. "Bertha's tragedy is in her expectations--life would be so simple without them. Her assaults on the amiable Craddock are as rational as beating a flounder for not flying."