This early novella by Wilkie Collins is a picaresque story of a young many from a good family who goes through a series of professions, from publishing anonymous caricatures of his unwitting friends to forging old masters to counterfeiting. His family isn't exactly blameless either: in a typical Collins device, a will leaves money to the rogue's sister and brother-in-law only if he outlasts his grandmother -- which becomes their motivation for checking in on the rogue every now and then.

The picaresque meanderings are interrupted by the rogue falling in love, an exciting escape/pursuit, and his becoming an honest man by getting married and settling down in Australia (the later location, against his will).

This novella provides only a distant glimpse of the best of Collins, which was eventually to come. But it is enjoyable and worthwhile on its own terms.