Odds and Ends by B.M. Croker

When Major Mahon died, he left his affairs in such desperate confusion that even a hardened Irish agent, well accustomed to family disasters and unexpected disclosures, was dumbfounded. Kil-Mahon property was mortgaged beyond recovery; the gay, hospitable, hard-riding Major had lived extravagantly and spent precisely as if his capital were a yearly income, and his income pocket-money -- and after his funeral came the deluge.

The deluge, indeed! His pretty daughter, who was just twenty-one, found herself homeless, for the ancestral mansion now belonged to creditors; there was an auction, and the family goods and heirlooms were scattered to the four winds. Her brother Tom, who was serving in India -- the supposed heir to a fine fortune, and living up to the belief -- was compelled to leave his regiment, and promptly return to Ireland.