When young widow Nelly Brunton comes on a visit to her cousins the Bamptons, she disrupts a little flirtation between May Bampton and a near stranger, Percy Fitzroy - who has swiftly turned his attention to herself. Now home again with her children at Haven Green, at first it is delightful to have her new "friend" dropping in from London. But as time passes it becomes unclear whether he is honestly courting her, or has a disrespectful object behind his frequent visits.
British publishing information
Periodical: Cornhill Magazine Jul - Sep 1893
First edition: William Blackwood and Sons (collected in A Widow's Tale) 1898