A Golden Venture The Lady of the Barge and Others, Part 11.

"A Golden Venture" by W. W. Jacobs is a funny short story set in the early 1900s, exploring what happens when a working-class family, the Tidgers, learns that a relative, Mrs. Ann Pullen, has supposedly inherited a fortune and the news sends their lives spinning. The family receives a letter that sets off dreams of riches, capturing the greedy attention of two local businessmen, Mr. Wiggett and Mr. Miller, who compete for Ann's hand in marriage. Mr. Tidger begins to doubt the intentions of the two suitors as they try to win her over with gifts and false promises. The story takes a twist when it's revealed that the inheritance was a mistake just as Miller proposes to Ann, after the family’s dreams of newfound wealth burst, exposing the characters' true colors and the comedy found in their social ambitions.