In which the narrator returns home to a family both stationary and stern, seeking assistance amid his failing fortunes, only to find himself plunged into the old strife and grudging generosity of kinship and legacy. With a check in hand and the weight of new obligations upon him, he ventures westward, soon ensnared in the boisterous and well-meant machinations of his irrepressible friend, Pinkerton, whose spirited zeal plunges them both into a most unforeseen theatrical ordeal.