When she is left without any money in London, she decides to support her ailing father by selling sketches. During her time in London, a man named Montague De Courcy begins to fall in love with her. De Courcy buys Laura's sketches in secret. Hargrave follows Laura to London, and he becomes involved in an affair with a married woman. Hargrave meets Laura in the shop where she sells her sketches and paintings, and accompanies her home and harasses her. Hargrave's affair is found out by his lover's husband, and the two men duel. Hargrave wounds the husband, and then goes to Laura, urging her to marry him before she finds out about his affair. Because Hargrave threatens to kill himself, Laura faints, and is found by her father, who then realises that Hargrave has been threatening his daughter, and he has been encouraging Hargrave. This causes Captain Montreville such grief that he dies the next morning. When Captain Montreville dies of his illness, Laura goes to live with Lady Pelham, her