John Gardiner

The Egoist John Gardiner

For the marriageable Sir Willoughby Patterne he desires a wife possessed of that triune of perfect starriness, which makes all men astronomers, wealth, health and beauty. Clara Middleton, heroine in The Egoist, has consented against her subsequent better judgement to become the affianced of Sir Willoughby. Fashionable, exceedingly rich, as handsome as a cavalier, a deeper student than his rivals in the universal struggle of winning the affections of young women, our hero's veneer camouflages an egoist in heart and mind. Clara comes to the realization she cannot, will not, marry him, and the nine episodes in the screenplay detail her efforts to extricate herself from the forthcoming marriage without precipitating a social scandal. Sir Willoughby weaves intricate webs to keep her ensnared in his ancestral home, Patterne Hall, and his cunning draws much of the authorial satire. Does Sir Willoughby win the romantic prize?