Sentence:  “The story of this adoption is, of course, the pivot round which all the circumstances of the mysterious tragedy revolved. Mrs. Yule had an only son, namely, William, to whom she was passionately attached&thinsp;; but, like many a <WSD>fond</WSD> mother, she had the desire of mapping out that son's future entirely according to her own ideas. [...]" 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Indulgent.