Poppy Silk — Michael Taylor

Young Poppy meets and falls in love with Robert Crawford, a well-connected railway engineer, but he is way out of her league. Despite the impossible chasm between them socially, Robert is also drawn inexorably to Poppy, and embarks on the private task of educating her. Poppy, however, has another admirer in the shape of Jericho, a handsome, brawny navvy, who has ideas of his own about her future.