The House of Mirth
Eventually, Lily Bart receives a ten-thousand-dollar inheritance from her Aunt Peniston, which she arranges to use to repay Gus Trenor. Distraught by her misfortunes, Lily has by this time begun regularly using a sleeping draught of chloral hydrate to escape the pain of poverty and social ostracism. Once she has repaid all her debts, Lily takes an overdose of the sleeping draught and dies; perhaps it is suicide, perhaps an accident. That very morning, Lawrence Selden arrives to her quarters, to finally propose marriage, but finds Lily Bart dead. Among her belongings are receipts for her payments toward the debt she owed to Gus Trenor, proving that her financial dealings with Trenor were honorable and not evidence of an improper relationship. His realization allows him to feel sympathy and closeness for her, and he is clearly distraught by her death.
The House of Mirth
Grace Stepney—Lily's competitive middle-aged cousin who lives in a boarding house and who attracts and remembers all manner of gossip related to high society in general and to Lily in particular. Unbeknownst to Lily, Grace dislikes her because she felt "mortally offended" at being excluded from her Aunt Peniston's dinner party for Jack and Gwen on their return from their honeymoon. She surmised, not unjustly, that it was Lily's counsel to her Aunt Peniston that kept her from being included. To get even Grace relays to Aunt Julia the talk about Lily's attention to Gus Trenor in exchange for money that Lily used to pay gambling debts. Grace refuses to give Lily financial assistance when she is down and out.