Celia Grant, a lady fallen on hard times, lives in a grotty apartment building in London, supporting herself financially. One day she happens upon the young man in the adjoining room contemplating suicide, and saves his life, which he never forgets: 'I did not know her name until you told me just now; I saw her for only a few minutes; those few minutes, and her angelic goodness, changed the whole current of my life.'

One is forever hearing enough and to spare about old books and those who love them. There is a whole literature of the subject. The men themselves, from Charles Lamb downwards, have over and over again described their ecstasies--with what joy they have pounced upon some rare edition, and with what reverence they have ever afterwards regarded it.