Summary
Leigh Dering returns to England a laurel‑crowned saviour of a beleaguered garrison in India, only to be ensnared by the gilded trappings of his new father‑in‑law’s mercantile empire. His marriage to Jean Desmond, the merchant’s daughter, quickly deteriorates under the weight of patronage and humiliation, driving Dering into a vortex of alcohol and alienation. One night, the corpse of Jean’s father is discovered; accusations fly, and Dering vanishes, staging his own death in a railway mishap. Five years later, a broken man, reduced to opiates in Calcutta, learns that Jean has remarried the duplicitous officer Willoughby, whose exile from India stems from a betrayal of the Rajah’s sister. When Willoughby returns with his new wife, the Rajah seizes the chance for vengeance, plotting a palace massacre that Dering thwarts, culminating in a brutal hand‑to‑hand duel that ends Willoughby’s life and paves the way for Dering and Jean’s reluctant reconciliation, each having paid the inexorable price of redemption.
Synopsis
Returning to England a hero after saving a British garrison in India, Leigh Dering marries Jean Desmond, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Humiliated by the patronage of his wealthy father-in-law, Leigh turns to drink, estranging him from Jean. Returning home one night he finds the body of his wife's father. When Jean accuses her husband of the crime, Leigh disappears, making it seem as if he has been killed in a railway accident. Five years pass and Leigh has become a victim of drink and drugs, barely existing in India. Jean marries Willoughby, an unscrupulous officer who was forced to leave India when his betrayal of the Rajah's sister earned the enmity of the ruler, thus endangering the garrison that Leigh had rescued. When Willoughby returns to India with his new wife, the Rajah seizes upon the opportunity for revenge. Planning to blow up the palace during a reception, the Rajah is thwarted by Leigh. In a rage, the Rajah kills Willoughby in hand-to-hand combat, thereby permitting the reconciliation between Jean and Leigh, who have already paid the price of redemption.
