The Great Tontine (1881) was republished in 1984 in an anthology of four novels entitled Victorian Villainies, edited by Graham Greene with an introduction by his brother Hugh Greene.
The name “Tontine” derives from a financial scheme originated by Neapolitan banker Lorenzo de Tonti, which he introduced in France in the 17th century.
Two elderly brothers Masterman (John Mills) and Joseph Finsbury (Ralph Richardson) are the last surviving members of a tontine, an investment scheme set up many years before, in which the last surviving member stands to receive a fortune.