The novel's fictional hero was based party upon the author's own experiences as a Member of parliament, and partly upon his friend Robert Falcon Scott, who at that time had yet to start out on his ill-fated expedition to the South Pole.

Cynthia is unaware of her parentage, and is horrified when on her 17th birthday Glanville arrives unannounced to claim her, intending to force her into prostitution in Buenos Aires and live off the proceeds.

After the Daventrys’ death, Cynthia marries Captain Harry Rames, an up-and-coming politician whom she had first admired years earlier when as a naval officer he had led an expedition to the Antarctic.

Mason's fictional hero, Captain Rames, was based party upon his own experiences as a Liberal Member of parliament between 1906 and 1910,[2] and partly upon his friend Robert Falcon Scott, who at that time had yet to start out on his ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition.

[3] As a candidate for the Liberal cause, Mason had proved himself to be an excellent and rousing political speaker, with JM Barrie writing to Arthur Quiller-Couch that he "is loved all over the place and gets wound up by big meetings to great effect".