Emmeline
At fourteen, Emmeline is sent to work in a Lowell textile mill. The married factory supervisor, Mr. Maguire, seduces her; when she becomes pregnant, her aunt Hannah arranges for a couple to adopt the baby and hides its sex from Emmeline. Twenty years later Emmeline, still unmarried, falls in love with younger boarder Matthew Gurney and accepts his marriage proposal. At her mother’s funeral, Hannah recognizes Matthew as Emmeline’s son and reveals the truth. Matthew runs away; Emmeline remains in town, waiting for her child.