Virginia Adair

Tillie Getz, the eldest daughter of Jacob Getz, a brutal, driving father, lives in a Pennsylvania Mennonite village. Her Mennonite aunt leaves a will by the terms of which Tillie will inherit a small fortune if she has joined the Mennonite church by age eighteen. A plot is hatched by the lawyer who drew up the will and an attempt is made to force Tillie into a marriage with Absalom Puntz, an undesirable young man, sharing her fortune being its end.

The adopted Irish daughter of the Rosensteins, Second Avenue pawnshop owners, Rose is much sought after by Tim McCarthy, a wealthy Irish contractor many years her senior. Meanwhile, Nat, her adopted brother, is accused of stealing from his firm and is arrested and put in jail; Rosenstein, heartbroken, becomes seriously ill.