The narrator tells us that the wedding dowry has dropped even though he is a "hard worker" and his "firstborn" . He explains that his family has been highly respected in the kingdom because of their boss, Mr. Beaumont, who worked for the King. Because of this influence, the family's dowries "exploded" and the "list of suitors" was huge. However, after Mr. beaumont's death, things changed and now his wife is "desperate" to marry off her five children before she herself "drives them into bankruptcy"