The narrator introduces Dr. Elwin Ransom, a linguistics professor on a walking tour through the English countryside. On his way to a village called Sterk, Ransom comes across a small cottage. He queries its inhabitant, a distressed elderly woman, about nearby lodging. The woman responds that the only house in the area is called The Rise. The woman’s son, Harry, works as a servant at The Rise, and he is late coming home. Harry is “a little simple” (11) and afraid of one of his employers, a man the woman calls the Professor. Ransom promises to go to The Rise and have Harry sent home, hoping that the owners will let him stay the night.

Arriving at The Rise, a large and dilapidated stone house, Ransom rings the front doorbell but receives no answer. The sound of raised voices alerts him to a conflict at the back of the house as he hears someone protest, “Let me go home!” (13). Sprinting to the back door of The Rise, Ransom sees Harry being restrained by two men. The larger of the two aggressors demands to know who Ransom is. When Ransom gives his name, the smaller man recognizes him instantly from Cambridge.