In the quiet New England village of S--, a young and beloved minister is found dead, ignominiously drowned in a dye vat in a dilapidated mill. Almost immediately, rumors of suicide begin to circulate. But was it suicide? How could a devout man of the cloth come to believe life was hopeless? The young woman to whom he was secretly engaged is adamant that it could not be. When this young woman tragically dies on the same day as her lover, it is left to her roommate Constance Sterling, a young woman without family or prospects, to determine the truth.
Chapter I, The Alarm; Chapter II, A Fearful Question
Chapter III, Ada; Chapter IV, The Pollards
Chapter V, Doubts and Queries
Chapter VI, Mrs. Pollard
Chapter VII, Advances
Chapter VIII, A Flower from the Pollard Conservatory
Chapter IX, An Unexpected Discovery
Chapter X, Rhoda Colwell
Chapter XI, Under the Mill Floor
Chapter XII, Dwight Pollard
Chapter XIII, Guy Pollard
Chapter XIV, Correspondence
Chapter XV, A Gossip
Chapter XVI, The Green Envelope
Chapter XVII, David Barrows; Chapter XVIII, A Last Request
Chapter XIX, A Fatal Delay; Chapter XX, The Old Mill
Chapter XXI, The Vat
Chapter XXII, The Cypher
Chapter XIII, Too Late
Chapter XXIV, Confronted; Chapter XXV, The Final Blow
Chapter XXVI, A Feline Touch; Chapter XXVII, Reparation
Chapter XXVIII, Two or One