September evening an unusual ark house resembling a ship in shape for its owner the grayhaired old man captain Châtover sailed the whole life through the seas A strange house where people behave differently Young beauty sisters reign in this house beckoning true gentlemen as the light of a lamp beckons moths This house fences its inhabitants from the outside world Talk about the meaning of life home entertainment hopeless novels And a premonition of trouble at the same time clouds of the First World were gathering over the good old England