A working‐class tale set in a seafaring town, the narrative centers on a young man raised by his elderly uncle, a gentleman who expects to leave a modest estate to his nephew. The uncle has been living with an attractive, capable housekeeper whose relationship with him has evolved in a series of unconventional and accidental ways. The young man, disliking the housekeeper and fearing that her continued presence might jeopardize his prospects of inheritance, devises a plan to prevent her marriage to his uncle. His scheme relies on the claim that the housekeeper’s first husband—widely believed to have perished in a maritime disaster—is in fact still alive, a fact that, if known, would legally bar her new marriage. Throughout the narrative, characters converse in a low, humorous dialect as a local night watchman and other townspeople comment wryly on the ironies of money, inheritance, and the inescapable reach of fate. The young man persistently raises the issue with his uncle, recounting a vivid dream in which the reappearance of the presumed-dead husband disrupts the household’s plans. The uncle, initially dismissive of the idea and reluctant to upset the housekeeper, is eventually drawn into the scheme when provided with details about her past. The exchange is marked by humorous banter on topics such as love letters, mistaken identities, and the improbability of death at sea, which sets the stage for the unfolding farce. Matters take an unexpected turn with the arrival of a mysterious visitor—a bearded man who claims intimate knowledge of the woman’s past life—whose revelations lend an air of legitimacy to the nephew’s claim. As the visitor recounts details about the first husband’s survival and subsequent wanderings under an assumed name, the household is thrown into a state of disarray. The visitor’s testimony, intercut with comic interludes involving domestic mishaps and local gossip, confirms the absurd possibility that the housekeeper’s former spouse could still be among the living. The story uses a blend of realism and the outlandish as it explores themes of greed, deception, and the unpredictability of human relationships. Amid the jibes about inheritance and the precariousness of waiting on others’ fortunes, the work exposes the tension between youthful ambition and the constraints of social expectation. Both the uncle’s reluctant complicity and the young man’s mischievous plotting are portrayed with an economy of dialogue that simultaneously mocks and celebrates the foibles of its characters. By the close of this section, the plot has set in motion a collision of farcical circumstances—where a dream becomes a stirring pretext for unmasking the truth behind long-held local legends and personal deceptions. The narrative thus establishes a framework in which every character, from the night watchman to the domestic servants, is entwined in the unfolding drama of unexpected revelations and the perverse humor of everyday life.
By W.W. Jacobs · First published 1902 · Genre: Humor, Farce, Social Satire