Stephen Glennard is in desperate need of money. So when he becomes aware
of the potential value of a series of passionate love letters written to
him by the recently deceased author Margaret Aubyn, he sells them and
marries the beautiful Alexa Trent. However, his shame and guilt at
building a new life on the betrayal of another's love slowly begins to
eat away at him, and Margaret's memory has a power that can reach him
from beyond the grave.
The first of Edith Wharton's works depicting life in "old New York",
The Touchstone is an acutely observed novella, and an exploration of
the tension between self-serving opportunism and the desire to live a
moral life.