Grandemont Charles, a seventy-five dollar a month clerk in a broker's office in New Orleans, is a descendant of the noble Charles family of France. He is in love with Adele Fauquier, but she has repeatedly refused to marry him saying, "First find my brother Victor." Ten years before Victor had fallen in love with an undesirable girl whom Grandemont, to save Adele from pain, had paid to go away. When Victor learned that Grandemont was responsible for her disappearance he attacked him at night, and, in boyish fury at his defeat, had rushed away saying, "None of you shall ever see my face again." Unknown to them Adele had seen the two men fighting, and when her brother failed to return she suspected Grandemont, who could not explain without revealing Victor's affair. Grandemont has spent all his wealth in trying to find Victor, and Charleroi, the only family plantation, has been sold.