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Matthew Garner was the orphaned stepson of his sister who had died out in South Africa. Philip Garth was the son of the only friend he had ever possessed, a photographer, unfortunate in business, deserted by his wife, and converted to Nonconformity during the last few months of his life. Rosina was the daughter of his other sister, who, whilst travelling with a Cook's excursion party in France, had committed the amazing indiscretion of falling in love with and marrying a French artist. Benjamin treated the affair as a bereavement, allowed his sister a hundred a year, and returned all her letters unopened until the last one, which came addressed in a strange hand-riting. Its contents were brief enough. It was dated from a small town in the southwest corner of France, and, whatever effect it had upon its recipient, he took no one into his confidence:

Dear Benjamin:

My husband is dead. They tell me that I am not likely to live for more than a week or two. You have allowed us a hundred pounds a year to live upon, for which I am grateful. I am sending you Rosina, my daughter. It will cost you little more than the hundred a year you will save by my death, to provide for her. I have had a hard life and I am glad to leave it. Are you as religious as ever?