What gets me about that heir and spare thing is that given the mortality rate, one would have thought both sons would have been trained to be the Lord of the Manor. Ton familys complained about their sons' playboy lifestyles, yet many enabled them to continue if they didn't want to face scandal. That lifestyle is still is being repeated. We all saw the directions Princes William and Harry were headed in as teenagers. Thank goodness someone, Prince Charles perhaps, let them have some fun, but stepped up and got them off the garden path and on the road to maturity.
Prudence was one step away from plunging down the slippery slope of life to someplace worse than White Rose Yard. What would have happened to her if the rent was raised? or she got sick. Her brother blamed her for her poverty and never acknowledged what she and her mother gave up for him. The men in Northallerton weren't looking for a trophy wife to sip tea and order others about. They were looking for a woman who would bring something substantial to the table. So, she stiffened her backbone and confronted her brother and his family. How many of us just want what we believe we are due out of life? How many of give up our dreams and settle in and make the best of what we have? Good work Jo!