Sir Francis Kernham has returned from 10 years in the colonies where he has made a fortune. He is looking for Marcia, the struggling young actress who shared his misery in a Chelsea boardinghouse. He searches everywhere for her, fearful of what she may have become, only to discover by chance that she has also elevated herself and is now the Princess Hohenmahn, married to an elderly debauched member of royalty. Will they now find love and happiness together, or has time and truth forged bonds of a different sort? The fate of these characters is strictly Victorian. The novella gives an interesting picture of late Victorian society, the role of wealth and art, and the state of society in London just prior to the arrival of the automobile, and struggle for women's rights.