In the quiet New England village of S--, a young and beloved minister is found dead, ignominiously drowned in a dye vat in a dilapidated mill. Almost immediately, rumors of suicide begin to circulate. But was it suicide? How could a devout man of the cloth come to believe life was hopeless? The young woman to whom he was secretly engaged is adamant that it could not be. When this young woman tragically dies on the same day as her lover, it is left to her roommate Constance Sterling, a young woman without family or prospects, to determine the truth. (Summary by Jacquerie)