During her marriage Caroline gradually realizes that Harcourt is more deeply interested in old Mr. Bertram’s fortune and inheritance than in her own happiness, and when his attempts to use her position for financial advantage destroy what remains of their relationship she leaves him and returns to Hadley while Harcourt’s political and financial fortunes decline toward ruin, and at the same time Arthur and Adela continue to struggle against Mrs. Wilkinson’s resistance to their marriage until family tensions are gradually resolved, while the failing health of old Mr. Bertram brings the question of his enormous fortune to the center of the final conflict, so that after his death and the reading of his will settle the expectations surrounding money and inheritance George and Caroline overcome the pride and wounds that once separated them and marry at last, while Arthur and Adela also secure their future and the novel closes by allowing love, compromise, and personal choice to prevail over the ambitions and financial calculations that have shaped so many of the characters’ lives.