Ernie is a young deaf boy taken to live with a woman named Miss Thyrza when he is thirteen. Miss Thyrza puts Ernie to work all day with chores around the house and farm where she lives, and Ernie is very lonely most of the time. Miss Thyrza takes on a boarder named Jasper Thorley, who is a teacher and a very kind man. Jasper marries Miss Thyrza, which confuses Ernie because Jasper is ten years younger than Miss Thyrza, only twenty-five, and neither Jasper nor Miss Thyrza love the other. Miss Thyrza takes on another boarder named Effie, a seventeen year old girl whose mother has just died. Over the next couple of years, Effie becomes graceful and beautiful. Amos, the farm-hand, stops teasing her and begins to compliment her and follow her around. One Saturday night, Jasper and Miss Thyrza have gone into town for a concert. Suddenly, Ernie hears a loud noise and smells smoke, and he rushes to Effie's room. He sees Jasper standing there, holding a gun, and Amos dead on the floor. The front door opens, and Miss Thyrza comes inside. She doesn't see Amos's dead body at first, and begins to yell at Jasper, insinuating that the reason he came home before her from town was to sleep with Effie. Jasper cuts in to explain what really happened: Jasper had heard Effie screaming and had grabbed his gun, which had gone off in the ensuing struggle as Jasper tried to pull Amos off of Effie. Jasper says he must give himself up and Miss Thyrza says he mustn't — a court would find Jasper guilty. So they change the story — Jasper was coming to the defense of his wife, Miss Thyrza. They all testify to this new version in court, and after an ordeal, return home together. In the days that follow, Miss Thyrza is insufferable, reminding Effie and Jasper that she has saved Jasper from a likely death. That spring, Effie and Jasper fall in love and beg Miss Thyrza to let them leave with one another, but she refuses and continues to be horrible to both. One supper, Ernie comes to dinner to find Miss Thyrza alone, and he strangles her. Miss Thyrza's autopsy shows poison, and Effie and Jasper confess to the crime.