This is another of Haggard's eternal love stories. This novel tells of intersecting fates, the triangle: scholarly Morris Monk, inventor; his first cousin, Mary Porson; and the daughter of the new church rector, Stella Fregelius. The story at one point plays with the idea that love cannot exist between man and woman without lust, which implies a rare power to Morris and Stella's bond. The moral of this story is: love that lives after death, and that spiritual connection is much more important than physical and temporary.