Mr Dangle, a crusty widower of sixty-five, keeps his elder daughter, aged twenty, at home to look after him. Susan, the younger daughter, is away in service locally. Bith girls are suitably engaged to be married, but being under age, they require their father's consent, which is withheld. Mary's fiance has the offer of an excellent job up north, and wants Mary to go away with him immediately, and live with his aunt until they marry. Susan is willing to take her place for a time. But Mrs Dinnage, a retired schoolmistress who has always wanted to marry Mr Dangle, and who was a great friend of his late wife, interferes. She proposes to instal herself that night in the house, while Mary goes off with her young man, and having been thus compromised, Mr Dangle will have to marry her. She puts the plan into operation, but Mr Dangle discovers it and persuades her to go home until the morning. Mary returns to slip a note under the front door and is caught by her father, who yields to her advice to accompany her to a new life up north.