Aunt Maud Lowder Timeline and Summary

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• Maud gives her niece Kate an ultimatum: stop seeing your horrible father or I'll disinherit you and stop giving you your generous allowance. Kate decides to go with her dad, but is rejected by him and comes back to Maud. Ouch.
• Maud is aware that Kate has feelings for a young man named Merton Densher. But Merton is a poor nobody and Maud has great hopes for Kate's future. She wants Kate to marry a rich lord or duke.
• She reveals her plan to Merton in a one-on-one meeting and tells him that he'll never be able to marry Kate.
• Later on, Maud hears from her old school friend Susan for the first time in decades. She invites Susan and her young travelling companion Milly over for dinner. During this visit, Maud becomes interested in Milly.
• Later, Maud discovers from Susan that Milly knows Merton from one of the young man's recent visits to New York. She also finds out that Milly is very unwell. She then decides to invite Merton over for dinner so that he can run into Milly.
• Maud's plan is this: she wants to make Milly happy by giving her Merton, whom she loves. Also, this will get Merton away from her niece Kate.
• When Milly and Susan go to Italy on a trip, Maud arranges it so that she, Kate, and Merton all go too. Eventually, though, she arranges for Kate and herself to leave. This gives Merton the space he needs to propose to Milly.
• Maud also gives Susan her guarantee that there is nothing going on between Merton and Kate. Susan tells Milly, and Milly is pretty dang pleased about this.
• At the end of the novel, Maud is convinced that Merton truly loved Milly and treats him very well because of it. He officially gets her enthusiastic thumbs-up for making Milly happy in her final months. Besides, now that Milly has apparently left Merton her money, the dude is rich and that means he's good enough for Kate.