Emily Barkstone

Emily Barkstone is Emma Harte’s granddaughter, a confident young woman whose brief but consequential appearances show her as observant, socially assured, and willing to speak plainly in a divided family. At a gathering at Pennistone Royal, she notices the discomfort around her, steps into a silence no one else has filled, and proposes a toast to Emma after her recovery from serious illness. The gesture makes Emily more than a witness to family tensions: she uses her place among the younger generation to honor her grandmother and challenge the older men openly antagonistic toward her.

Identity and family setting

Emily is twenty-one and is presented as one of Emma Harte’s grandchildren. At the family gathering, she sits farther down the table, where she can observe both the conversation and the changing mood. The scene gives little biographical detail beyond her age and family position, but her conduct is sharply drawn: she is described as self-confident and unruffled, and she acts with the assurance of someone accustomed to making herself heard.

Her relation to Emma is affectionate as well as public. Emily calls her Grandy, accepts a dress Emma has given her, and responds warmly when Emma offers her the earrings too. The gifts make their closeness tangible, while the reactions around them suggest that family affection is entangled with rivalry and disapproval. Emily reports that her mother was furious when she saw her wearing the earrings; the disagreement does not prevent Emily from valuing the gift or accepting Emma’s generosity.

The family gathering at Pennistone Royal

During dinner, Emily first draws Emma’s attention by rolling her eyes and silently trying to signal that something is wrong. When Emma calls her to the head of the table, Emily explains that Aunt Edwina is heavily intoxicated and behaving rudely toward Gianni, who is uncomfortable despite being harmless and kind to Emily’s mother and the twins. Emily also says that her mother is intoxicated. Her report is specific and concerned with the effect of the evening on other people, not merely with Edwina’s drinking: she notices Gianni’s embarrassment and brings the situation to Emma’s attention.

Emma asks Emily to retrieve a briefcase from the parlour and put it behind the desk in the library. Emily says she will do so, but first returns to her place at the table. There she stands behind her chair, clears her throat, and calls for quiet. The conversational buzz stops. Emily has turned a private signal and a request into a public intervention, and she uses the attention she has gained to address the gathering directly.

She points out that no one has proposed a toast to Emma, who has only just recovered from a serious illness. Emily therefore proposes one herself, wishing her grandmother continued good health and saying that the family loves her. Her words are gracious, but her look toward Robin Harte and Kit Harte gives the gesture a sharper edge: she detests them, and her pause and condemning glare make clear that the toast is also a rebuke to the uncles whose conduct has helped make the family gathering hostile. The others raise their glasses together. Emma is moved by Emily’s action and proud of her courage, particularly because Emily is not afraid of her uncles.

Affection expressed through action

After the toast, Emily carries out Emma’s request, bringing the briefcase into the library and setting it behind the desk. The movement from the dining room to the library links her public support for Emma with practical assistance. In the library, Emily hurries in, holds up the briefcase, and deposits it where Emma asked. She then flits over to the fireplace, her red chiffon dress trailing behind her, and hugs her grandmother. Her enthusiasm for the dress Emma gave her supplies a more intimate counterpoint to the speech at dinner: affection appears both in a formal act before the family and in a spontaneous embrace afterward.

Emma responds by offering Emily the earrings as well. Emily is delighted but initially protests that she cannot accept them; she then recognizes from Emma’s expression that the offer is sincere and thanks her warmly. Her mother’s anger at seeing her wear the earrings reveals a strain around the gift, but the exchange itself remains affectionate. Emily accepts Emma’s generosity without withdrawing from the family tensions that surround it.

Place in Emma’s succession

Emma’s will assigns Emily the Avenue Foch apartment in Paris, together with its furnishings. Emily is also one of four granddaughters among whom Emma’s jewellery, apart from the emeralds, is to be divided equally; the other named beneficiaries are Sarah Lowther, Francesca, and Amanda. These provisions give Emily a defined place in Emma’s distribution of property, alongside the emotional recognition visible at the family gathering.

The contrast between the strained dinner and the measured inheritance arrangements helps frame Emily’s role. She is not shown directing the family’s business or deciding its central conflicts. Instead, she emerges through acts of attention, loyalty, and nerve: she sees who is uncomfortable, speaks when the room has overlooked Emma, and offers support without disguising her dislike of Robin and Kit. Her toast turns a missing ritual into an unmistakable declaration of regard, while the will confirms that her bond with Emma also has a material consequence.