 James returns to Eaton Place after his two-year trip to America. He s very animated and also, very wealthy. At dinner, he tells his father, Virginia and Georgina about the investments he s made on Wall Street that have proved to be very wise and lucrative. All of this talk of money reaches the servants  hall and Rose approaches James with some inquiries. She d like to take the money her late fiancée, Gregory, had left her and invest it. James assures her that it s safe and a very sound decision and persuades her to invest the entire amount. Word inevitably comes of the Crash and James is wiped out -- as is Rose. Distraught, Rose tells Virginia and when Richard hears of it, he and his son have a bitter contretemps and Richard enumerates his many failures -- professionally and personally. Though stung, James realizes that his father is right. Virginia tries to intervene, but James tells her that he s decided to leave London for a few days until the dust settles. Later that evening, an inspector calls at Eaton Place with terrible news for the family -- James has shot himself in the mouth with his own revolver and is dead. A devastated Richard reads his son s final missive to his father, aloud to Virginia and an inconsolable Georgina.