Published in 1908, this is the story of two small families and the agreeable couple who help them. The heartfelt Norths, though clouded by disabilities, maintain the joy of life while struggling through sadness and loss. Their neighbours, the Austins, live comfortably if without much in the way of shared interest. As Eloise Wynne approaches to ÒblessÓ the Norths with her amiable fiancŽ, Doctor Allan Conrad, the two offspring in each family discover a hidden deception and how each parent, that they had grown up without, had met their fatal ends.