Anthony Trollope turns the tables on the usual "happy ending" in this intriguing novel and has his undaunted and faithful heroine fail miserably in bringing about the attempted reform of her disreputable husband-to-be. Sir Harry Hotspur is a wealthy baronet whose only surviving child, his daughter Emily, falls in love with her cousin George Hotspur. George is a scoundrel, though - a rogue and gambler and alcoholic swindler, all of which he admits to openly. However, Sir Harry's title will pass on to George if he and Emily should marry, as would his estates and property; it is for this continued union of title and estates that Sir Harry, out of his own pride, can't bring himself to forbid the marriage. But when the depth of George's depravity is made known to Sir Harry, he can't any longer give consent to Emily's marrying him. But the incredibly innocent and naive Emily is convinced not only of her love for George, but of her ability to reform him. In the hands of any number of other novelists of the period that is exactly what would happen, but not in Trollope's. The story moves along quickly and decidedly, making this one of Trollope's best short novels."