Book review: He knew he was right

The wealthy young Englishman Louis Trevelyan visits the British colony of the Mandarin Islands. Here he meets and falls in love with the governor's daughter Emily Rowley. Louis and Emily marry and settle in England together with Emily's sister Nora. Initially their marriage is happy and they have a baby boy. But when Emily is visited a few times by her older family friend, the single and rakish Colonel Osborne, Louis over-reacts and orders Emily not to see him again. Emily is shocked by her husband's lack of trust and soon their relationship deteriorates, leading even to a separation. Emily and Nora go and live with the family of Louis' university friend Hugh Stanbury. Hugh is in love with Nora, but because of his precarious living as a journalist, he dares not express his feelings. Meanwhile Nora is pursued by wealthy and titled Mr Glascock. Hugh's sweet and timid sister Dorothy is asked to come and live with her spinster aunt Miss Stanbury. Once there, aunt Stanbury tries to arrange a marriage between Dorothy and the local vicar Mr. Gibson, but Dorothy has more backbone than her aunt suspected!

( Romance is very pretty in novels, but the romance of a life is always a melancholy matter. They are most happy who have no story to tell )