Fred is well acquainted with the Leadbitters and one of their only friends. The family consists of Tom who is from Edinburgh and owns a plant nursery, his wife, Myrtle, two older twin boys, and a young girl, Gladys. One night when Fred is over for dinner at their house, Tom says he has to check the temperature of the greenhouse and leaves the house. They wait two hours and wonder what is taking him so long. They check the greenhouse and see he isn’t there and realize that he has disappeared. They spend a few days asking around for him but find no sign of him. Fred goes to the bank on Myrtle's behalf and finds that Tom has set up the account to be a joint account so that Myrtle can get the little money in the account. They realize that Tom had planned to leave and never come back. Myrtle puts the twins to work so that they can make a little money and afford to live. They manage for a couple years, but eventually Myrtle decides to move her family to another house that they can better afford. They sell the nursery to a former employee of Tom’s and use the money to get a new place. Fred helps them move and they all eat dinner together the first night in the house like a family. That same night the twin boys leave to go get cigarettes from the store and don’t return. The next few days they go looking for the boys, but realize that the boys are gone like Tom is. Fred continues to help Myrtle and Gladys, but he sees that Gladys has some mental issues that he is unsure of how to help with. He makes a proposition to Myrtle saying that he is going to travel to Edinburgh to find Tom’s parents to see if they know anything and that if he can’t find Tom that he will marry Myrtle. Myrtle says she doesn’t want to burden Fred with herself and her daughter. Fred goes to Edinburgh and eventually finds Tom’s parents who seem clueless to what their son has done. They offer to give a home to Myrtle, but they don’t have much else to offer. Fred returns to Myrtle’s house a month later and finds it completely abandoned. The neighbor tells Fred that Myrtle and Gladys cleared out a week before after selling all of their things. Fred is distraught and decides to become a traveling salesman for different items that he thinks Myrtle or Gladys might need. He becomes good at his job, but constantly changes companies and cities to work in so that he can one day be reunited with Myrtle.