The Perversity of Human Nature is about the quarrelsome yet ambitious young couple at The Nest at St. Kilda in Melbourne. The Browns try hard to make a life for themselves in the small town. Excerpt: "Now look here, she said with great solemnity, "Mabel-- is that her name?-- is never to know a word about it. She married you in good faith, and she is not to be thrown upon the world as if she were a bad woman. It is my fault, all my fault, that she fell into such a mistake; I must take care that she does not suffer for it."
