Fred Vincy's problems (Middlemarch)

[Gladys]

On the other hand, if I had learnt that another family had been put into financial difficulty for acting as security for the debt, so much so that they could not not afford to apprentice their son, I would have been livid. It does seem rather unlikely that Mr Vincy would have allowed that to happen, despite his business not doing very well.

Your faith in Mr Vincy does you credit but I fear that he, like his beautiful daughter, would have had more pressing matters to occupy his mind. Don't you remember that son Fred just wallowed in self pity when he could not reimburse Caleb Garth and, again, after Mr Featherstone failed to bequeath Fred even his gold-headed cane?

[Jackson Richardson]

Gladys got there first to say Mr Vincy is his daughter’s father and probably her equal in selfishness.

He is a self made man and probably has no sympathy for anyone he has done better than financially.

On the other hand he is aspirational and wants to be gentry rather than trade. He might well be pleased at Fred acting like a “gentleman” gambling and ripping off those “beneath” him.

Give Fred is considerable due – he is sufficiently confident of himself that he can learn to appreciate the intelligent, humane self respect of the Garths and is prepared to loose social kudos by aligning himself to both Caleb and Mary.