With his wife Mary dying of TB, Tom Seaton starts a job as a strikebreaker in the local mine. Jack Ford continues his affair with Dolly Headley whom he visits while she is at work for Sir Horatio Manners, his army captain's father. Discovering that Manners likes swords, Jack goes off and buys a cheap one in order to present it to Manners by way of introduction. Manners sizes him up and offers him a job.