About sixteen years after writing the short story Lady Denzil, Margaret Oliphant reworked its backstory into the full-length novel Madam. In each story, the backstory reveals the central character's mysterious past - and how someone offers to rescue her and marry her, if in return she will make a terrible sacrifice. This backstory has a great impact on the subsequent story lines (which go in different directions). In Madam Margaret Oliphant seems to pose the question: What if the man who rescued the woman was cruel instead of kind?
