Lighter,
I don't think the transition from being (accepted by the) high class to being down and out and jumping off a bridge in despair is hard to understand, in the version I posted above.

She's poor (and honest). She meets a wealthy squire (or two) and for a while is a "kept woman" living the high life (riding in carriages, sending champagne home to her aged parents). (Nowhere does it say she, herself is rich.) Then the (second) squire "callously" leaves her (presumably penniless) without a ring. So she's back to being poor but has "lost her name" as well and is despondent. Why could that not have been the original story?
Not saying it is - I don't know - but it makes perfect sense to me.

Genie