Chance chronicles the potentially devastating effects of capital venture upon several characters, principally Flora de Barral whose father, exposed as a swindler, is revealed as merely an inept financier, more a victim of his scheme than a predator. Conrad probes the English class structure, chiefly the middle class and, to an extent, the world of governesses and domestic help. His presentation of the world of finance and capital venture follows the career of the unfortunate de Barral and amply illustrates both the sphere of finance and the courts and men of law eager to be in on the kill. But the central focus is on Flora in the role of social outcast who, under the weight of her alienation first appears to Marlow when she contemplates suicide on the edge of a precipice. Another focus of the narrative derives from its title, the chances or opportunities...