The Touchstone

by Edith Wharton

"The Touchstone" by Edith Wharton is a novella published in 1900. Stephen Glennard faces financial ruin and cannot afford to marry the woman he loves. In desperation, he sells intimate letters written to him by Margaret Aubyn, a now-deceased famous author who once pursued him. The sale brings wealth and marriage, but mounting guilt over his betrayal threatens to destroy everything he has gained through this act of treachery.