Tale of love lightly betrayed and faithful love rewarded. A weak indulged and dissipated youth loves a poor but beautiful orphan he assists as her mother dies. He proposes but returns to London and marries the society girl long intended as his bride. They are unhappy, she scorning him, but when he returns to his old love affair after his wife's death he finds he is too late - she has no love left for him and has learned to love her humble faithful lover who has made a fortune on the Californian goldfields. Slight. Study of the weaknesses of a man's character and the loss of true love that he suffers. (PB)