the 11th of 20 tails

Rachel Russell is a grateful and admirable orphan raised by a snotty and cold-blooded aunt. Eventually she gets a job working as a painter for the patient Lord Grey of Grey Station. The unlikely couple rapidly succumb to a deep passion.

On the day of their wedding, a proud monk escapes from the attic of Grey Station and starts a fire. Believing that Lord Grey is dead, Rachel flees from the church and wanders the cold moors for days until she is rescued by a sympathetic detective.

However, although Lord Grey is blinded by the fire, he still breathes. Without Rachel he becomes vile and greedy. He turns to alcohol for comfort. The ghost of the monk from the attic haunts him.

Meanwhile, thinking Lord Grey is dead, Rachel accepts a marriage proposal from her saviour, the detective. However, one night she believes she can hear Lord Grey calling, "Rachel, where are you? Rachel come home!" and she returns to Grey Station.

On Rachel's return, she finds Lord Grey drunk and without sight. Mistaking her for the ghost of the proud monk, he attacks her with a pistol and Rachel Russell dies.

As he attends to the body, Lord Grey realises what he has done. Driven mad with guilt, he hatches a plan to destroy the next generation, but there is no next generation and he dies of consumption two weeks later