The miser loves money above life itself. It takes the whole efforts of his children, their lovers, his unpaid servants and the accomplished courtesan Frosine to make him part with a few francs.

Oppressed by past tragedies and an unhappy marriage, the master builder is haunted by his fears of the future—that, some day, youth will arrive to knock him off his pedestal.

How did a baby come to be deposited in the left luggage room at Victoria Station in mistake for a three-volume novel? And what is the secret allure of the name Ernest?

Jack Absolute can win the heart of romantic Lydia Languish only by pretending to be the penniless Ensign Beverley.