Chambers, American artist and writer, later turned to writing romantic fiction to earn a living. According to some estimates, Chambers had one of the most successful literary careers of his period, with a few of his works achieving bestseller status. The book begins: All day Sunday they had raised the devil from attic to cellar; Mrs. Farren was in tears, Howker desperate. Not one out of the fifteen servants considered necessary to embellish the Sea Grave establishment could do anything with them after Kathleen Severeness sudden departure the week before. When the telegram announcing her mother's sudden illness summoned young Mrs. Farren to Staten Island, every servant in the household understood that serious trouble was impending for them.