Squelching through the mud of the Thames at low tide in search of valuables that might provide the price of a meal, a 10-year-old waif, Wheeler, discovers a dead seaman. Searching the body, he finds a cheap medallion of Queen Victoria, whom he understands to be "the mother of England". Seeing in the kindly features of the Queen the mother he has never known, he sets out for Windsor Castle in search of her.