He was totally estranged from his mother and his elder brother.

His married sister had been forbidden by her husband (who was a clergyman) to hold any communication with him, from the period when he had fallen into the deplorable way of life which I have described as following his return from Canada.

Other relations he had none.

When he and Miss Blake left Devonshire, their next change of residence was to this house.

Neither courting nor avoiding notice; simply happy in themselves, in their children, and in their quiet rural life; unsuspected by the few neighbors who formed their modest circle of acquaintance to be other than what they seemed--the truth in their case, as in the cases of many others, remained undiscovered until accident forced it into the light of day.
"If, in your close intimacy with them, it seems strange that they should never have betrayed themselves, let me ask you to consider the circumstances and you will understand the apparent anomaly.