In which Mr. Jos. Larkin, a man of punctilious habits and ambitions, delights in the prosperous fruits of his legal endeavour and indulges in the imagined grandeur of his future social standing amid the genteel county amidst careful attention to expense claims and client dealings. He embarks upon a journey homeward, his solitary fellow-traveller cloaked in impenetrable mystery, stirring a quiet curiosity that momentarily interrupts the monotony of the evening train ride.