In 1874, a seemingly well-to-do Hindu lady from Gujarat paid a visit to a Zoroastrian-Christian household, seeking help on a financial matter (only in India). Francina Ford, whose advice was sought, had a daughter aged eight, Cornelia, who read a book on the floor as they spoke.
The lady bore “big sad eyes with big lashes”, and had a complicated problem. She was a widow, bound to her house and away from the company of men. To handle her many properties, she was permitted to communicate with a “man of business”. Being illiterate, she gave him signed pages of blank paper, which he was to make into the necessary paperwork. As it turned out, he wrote out all of her property in his name, and thirty years since being signed on for the job, left her in destitution.
Legally, everything was his and nothing was hers. Her seclusion compounded the problem. She narrated her tale in between bouts of sobbing, as Cornelia crept to her mother’s side and listened. After the lady left, Francina had a momentous conversation with her daughter:
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