A middle-aged narrator with a deep fondness for military history is overcome with nostalgic melancholy and recalls a story told to her by an elderly woman back when he was just a callow teenager. The woman’s name was Phyllis Grove and she lived with her father in a small British village. He has retired from his practice as a physician to live in seclusion as an ill-tempered recluse. Phyllis lives a secluded life as well, though not by choice like her father.
It just so happens that the King was encamped one village over. Naturally, his presence sparked great interest in many of those calling the region home. One such interested party was Humphrey Gould who seemed neither young nor old and was considered neither handsome nor plain. He was at the time a thirty-year-old bachelor. And then his gaze happened to fall upon Phyllis. Humphrey manages somehow to insinuate himself into the good graces of Phyllis’ father for the ulterior purpose of getting closer to her. The courtship moves swiftly to proposals and plans for marriage.
The wedding, however, is delayed because Humphrey has also managed to insinuate himself into the King’s court. Phyllis rarely sees her fiancé because is away so often scheming to improve his position within the court. Absence in this case fails to make the heart grow fonder as Phyllis suddenly finds herself attracted to a Hussar corporal named Matthäus Tina.
Matthäus is unhappy with his assignment in the King’s German Legion and is desperate to return to his home on the continent. What starts out as a mere friendship turns into true romance and in the truly romantic tradition, Matthäus makes plans to desert his post and return to Germany with Phyllis by his side. Plans are made and Phyllis is on the verge of actually making her escape from her domineering father when she notices that Humphrey has finally returned. Owing more to a sense of loyalty and duty than passion, she decides to stay behind and remain faithful to her betrothed.
Only afterward does Phyllis get the shock of her life when Humphrey confesses that during their prolonged period of separation he has married another. Realizing she was right to question Humphrey’s faithfulness and loyalty all along, she desperately desires to correct her mistake before it is too late and seeks to find Matthäus before he makes his escape. Matthäus is actually one member of a small cadre of soldiers who have planned to desert, but having lost their bearings in the fog, they steered their escape boat right back to the Jersey shore under the mistaken impression that it was the French coast.
Phyllis witnesses the execution of Matthäus for desertion and falls to the ground where she is found by her father and brought back to live in seclusion inside their home. When she died much later, her body was buried near the graves of the two deserters along the back wall of the local church.
