Eliot has a stunning mistress, Mrs. Vera Allenby. As the London Season progresses, Laura feels less and less satisfied with her marriage. Eliot mentions his "duty" nearly every time they converse. Actually, Eliot has broken with Vera. Vengeful, she sets her libertine husband to ruin Laura, and he maneuvers Laura into losing two thousand pounds at the tables. Desperate, Laura knocks on her husband's bedroom door to throw herself on his mercy. But when he sees her there, so beautiful, he sweeps her off to bed. Thus begins a terrible time. Laura has fallen in love with her husband, and fears he will never love her if she confesses how she flouted his commands. A blackmail note from Allenby is the last straw. She must unravel a snarl of mistaken motives, and face a loaded pistol, before she learns that Eliot is as deeply in love as she.