The second to go was Laura, who married Captain Level, and accompanied him to India.

Then he, Val, a young man in his teens, went out into the world, and did all sorts of harm in it in an unintentional sort of way; for Percival Elster never did wrong by premeditation.

Next came the death of his mother.

He was called home from a sojourn in Scotland--where his stay had been prolonged from the result of an accident--to bid her farewell.

Then he was at home for a year or more, making love to charming Anne Ashton.