Fortunately she was rich, and if she had not all the experience necessary to deal with such matters, she had plenty of goodwill, plenty of generosity, and plenty of money.

In her simple theory of agrarian economy the best way to improve an estate seemed to be to spend the income arising from it directly upon its improvement, until she could take the whole management of it into her own hands.

The trouble, as she thought, was that there was too little money among the peasants; the best way to help them was to put money within their reach.
The only question was how to do this without demoralising them, and without increasing their liabilities towards the _ministro_ or middleman.
Then she sent for the curate.

From him she learned that the people did well enough in the summer, but that the winter was dreaded.

She asked why.