Clarence McDay was a well-respected solicitor who worked mainly in London. His son Andrew gambled and drank into the night and then slept close to midday. Clarence decided to find him something to do that was far enough away from anywhere to make him change his ways. When he heard about a post as beadle at a workhouse orphanage in Devon, miles from anywhere he thought that that was ideal. When Andrew woke, he was told about his new position. There was no middle ground. He either went to Devon or his father would cut him off.
Andrew rode to Devon and he was angry. On the way he was accosted by a highway man. Andrew bested him but when he approached, he saw blue eye behind the mask. It intrigued him and he ordered the highway man to take off his mask. It was a woman. A very pretty woman and Andrew was smitten. He freed her and rode away.
After his meeting, his mood changed but on arrival at the orphanage, he heard a child scream. He found a large man whipping a young girl and stopped him.
From then on things changed. He was not going to have the children whipped to make them work, and they still worked well. The work had to be done and as long as they worked well, he tried to feed them more than a little gruel each day. He sacked the woman who looked after the babies when he found her drunk and heard of a possible replacement in Exeter and travelled there to obtain her services. On the way he encountered a highway man but this one did not have blue eyes.
He was saved by his blue-eyed Beth, the highway man and employed her as a teacher. She was an instant hit with the children, her beauty helped there.
When on another trip to Exeter Andrew passed the thief taker's wagon going to arrest someone. When he found out that it was Beth, he knew that there was only one man who could possibly help, his father.
Not only did Andrew's happiness depend on the outcome, the children in the orphanage were likely to return to the same as before. Starved and whipped to make them work.