Footprints

On a rare snowfall in early Victorian Devonshire, the prosperous Marlowe family comes to life in a scene of warmth, discipline, and childish delight. While the boys revel in snow play and the younger children build their own snowman at home, Harry Marlowe's steady sense of duty and Hugh's argumentative temper hint at the larger moral struggles beneath the family's comfort. That balance of homely brightness and buried unease deepens when Uncle Jasper, shaken by the snow, begins to unravel a lifetime of guilt tied to a long-hidden family sin. As Mary Marlowe gently presses him toward honesty, Jasper resolves to confess the truth of his youth at Marlowe Hay. He reveals that he was born Helps, a sickly, ambitious boy chosen with Harry Franks to be adopted into the household as a potential heir. Jealous of Harry and desperate for Katie's affection, he manipulated events, nurtured resentment, and let pride shape his life. Harry's courage, kindness, and patience only sharpened Jasper's shame, until his own recklessness, gambling, and drinking pushed the family toward crisis. What begins as a winter scene of play becomes a powerful tale of class, rivalry, conscience, and the cost of hidden sin. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.