Robert McIntyre is a moody and irritable man, for ever pursuing a quest which will always evade him.

His art is forgotten, and he spends his whole small income upon chemical and electrical appliances, with which he vainly seeks to rediscover that one hidden link.

His sister keeps house for him, a silent and brooding woman, still queenly and beautiful, but of a bitter, dissatisfied mind.
Of late, however, she has devoted herself to charity, and has been of so much help to Mr.Spurling's new curate that it is thought that he may be tempted to secure her assistance for ever.

So runs the gossip of the village, and in small places such gossip is seldom wrong.

As to Hector Spurling, he is still in her Majesty's service, and seems inclined to abide by his father's wise advice, that he should not think of marrying until he was a Commander.