The plot of this book focuses on a seemingly respectable middle-class marriage which falters when the husband, Herbert Linley, becomes infatuated with his daughter’s governess, the orphaned Sydney Westerfield. His wife, Catherine, is made aware of the situation following the interference of her stickybeak mother, the eponymous Evil Genius. Although initially reasonable and rational, Catherine becomes furious when Herbert proposes setting up home with his mistress and taking their daughter Kitty to live with them. She whisks Kitty away to live in Scotland where the marriage laws are more relaxed, and manages to obtain a divorce, thereby retaining custody of her own daughter.
