The Lindsays, Volume II by John K. Leys
The Lindsays, Volume II continues John K. Leys's novel by shifting between two intertwined circles: Hubert Blake's comfortable London world and Alec Lindsay's struggle to make his own way after refusing his father's wish that he enter the ministry. At Grove House in Highgate, Sophy Meredith quietly loves her cousin Hubert Blake, but he has just returned from two years abroad still obsessed with Margaret Lindsay, the cold, devout daughter of the Castle Farm laird, whom he cannot win because she refuses to marry a man who is not a Christian. Summoned north by Margaret's brother Alec, who is defying their father's demand that he study for the Free Church ministry, Hubert proposes to Margaret and is firmly refused. Alec, equally unwilling to enter his uncle's oil business, resolves instead to read law in London, financed by a reluctant £100 gift from his rich great-uncle James Lindsay, secured through the scheming of his cousin James Semple, who fears Alec as a rival for the old man's fortune. Alec parts from his father and sister Margaret, who extracts a promise of regular letters and a Christmas visit. In London, Alec joins the solicitors' firm of Hatchett, Small, and Hatchett under the ambitious, cynical managing clerk William Beattie, and befriends (and repeatedly rescues from dismissal) the drunken but able Scottish clerk MacGowan. Hubert introduces Alec to Sophy, and Alec's blunt, uncultivated but earnest character intrigues her. Alec also renews his old infatuation with Laura Mowbray, the guardian's ward of his dying great-uncle James, though Laura calculates her future between Alec and the wealthier Semple. As old James Lindsay's health fails, the visiting minister Dr. Mackenzie persuades him to leave £500,000 to the Free Church of Scotland, with modest legacies to relatives. Semple, learning of this through the indiscreet Beattie (who is asked to help draft the will), is enraged at losing his expected inheritance and conspires with Beattie to falsify the bequest. Beattie exploits Alec's trust—having him draw the will himself—then secretly gets the drunken MacGowan to re-engross a doctored copy reducing the Free Church legacy from five hundred thousand to five thousand pounds, afterward paying off and shipping MacGowan out to Australia under a false name to remove the only witness. Laura, manipulated by Semple into spying on the dying man and later caught by Alec examining the will (an incident she disguises as mere curiosity), unwittingly plays a part in the conspiracy without fully understanding it. James Lindsay dies, and at the reading of the substituted will, Dr. Mackenzie discovers the fraud and threatens legal action, while Semple denies any memory of the true figure and has Mackenzie snubbed out of the house. The residue of the estate—apparently now vastly larger than intended—passes jointly to Alec and Semple, leaving Dr. Mackenzie and the Free Church defrauded and the true nature of the will's tampering exposed to the reader but not yet resolved among the characters. The volume closes with the fraud freshly uncovered, the family's suspicions and legal reckoning still to come, and the romantic entanglements among Alec, Laura, Hubert, Sophy, and Margaret left unresolved.
By John K. Leys · First published 1888 · Genre: Literary Fiction, Family Drama, Romance · 14 chapters · 49,373 words
First lines
In a garden, the garden of a large old-fashioned house on Highgate Hill, a girl sat with a book in her hand, dreaming, on a July afternoon.
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The Lindsays, Volume II is listed on Textopian as a novel by John K. Leys, dated 1888 CE.
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- Work type: Novel
- Author: John K. Leys
- Date: 1888 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Literary Fiction, Family Drama, Romance, Victorian Literature, Domestic Fiction
- Length: 49,373 words
- Structure: 14 chapters, 1,335 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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Genres
- Literary Fiction — The novel employs sophisticated narrative techniques, complex character psychology, and thematic depth characteristic of Victorian literary fiction, with intricate explorations of human motivation and moral complexity rather than plot-driven entertainment alone.
- Family Drama — The central narrative revolves around familial relationships, inheritance disputes, conflicting loyalties, and generational tensions between uncle and nephews, forming the emotional and structural core of the work.
- Romance — Multiple romantic subplots drive character decisions: Alec's love for Laura Mowbray, Hubert Blake's obsession with Margaret Lindsay, and James Semple's courtship of Laura create emotional stakes throughout the narrative.
- Victorian Literature — The work is deeply embedded in Victorian social conventions, moral frameworks, religious sensibilities (particularly Scottish Calvinism), class consciousness, and the specific cultural anxieties of nineteenth-century Britain.
Tags
genealogy · family history · Scottish history · biography · history · genealogical research · historical records · ancestry · lineage · genealogical study · local history · historical documentation
Contents
- Sophy Meredith
- A Turning-Point
- ‘but you are not a Christian.'
- In London
- An Unconventional Guest
- At the Academy
- The Shadow of Death
- Mr. Lindsay's will
- Rogues in Council
- ‘Two Hundred Thousand Pounds!'
- David Macgowan Gets into Trouble
- The Signing of the will
- Mr. William Beattie Acts Like a Christian
- The Rich Man Died, and was Buried