Synopsis
Neil Gallina, a dabbler in literature, is diagnosed with consumption and given six months to live. Seeking relief initially through drinking with fair-weather friends, he meets Barbara, daughter of an evangelical mission worker. Through her efforts Neil is reformed to become an ardent mission supporter, but Barbara herself begins to find the life into which she has been born quite stifling. She announces she is leaving the mission and Neil for a year, to test both his resolve and her own. After her departure, he reverts to his old ways, and by the time Barbara returns to declare her love for him, she is too late: Neil is in the grip of the captain of the hosts of death.