The Suitor's Motive Ledger
Count what Mary's marriage would have cost her stepfather — the whole case in compound interest.
Mary's uncle left her £2,500 in New Zealand stock at 4.5%; the income was hers, but it flowed through the household she lived in. Price the imposture.
Drawn from A Case of Identity (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1891) — read the summary & analysis, or try Windibank on the Stand, this story's game. More at the Game Room and the tool bench.