The first clue we get in this play as to where Falder works as a junior clerk is when we are told that act 1 is set in "the office of James and Walter How."

When Ruth Honeywill shows up at the offices to see Falder, she encounters the rather grumpy managing clerk, Mr. Cokeson. Cokeson is disgruntled that Honeywill has arrived to see Falder about a "personal matter." He points out that this is a lawyer's office and tells her that she should go and see Falder at home. We thus know that Falder is a junior clerk at a law firm called James and Walter How.

While Falder is undoubtedly trying to do a noble thing by helping Ruth escape from her abusive husband, the trouble that he gets into is an indirect result of his employment at James and Walter How's law firm. In order to finance the start of a new life for himself, Honeywill, and Honeywill's children, he alters a check to read ninety pounds instead of nine pounds.

He is soon found out, and despite the best efforts of his counsel and of Honeywill, who testifies as a witness, he is found guilty of forgery and sentenced to three years in prison. After serving his sentence, he returns to the office of James and Walter How to discuss his future, both with the partners in the firm and with Honeywill. While he is talking to Honeywill, a detective shows up and makes to arrest Falder once again, this time for a parole violation. Rather than surrendering, Falder jumps to his death. Falder therefore works, considers a new life with Honeywill, and dies all in the same location—the office of James and Walter How, where he had worked as a junior clerk prior to his imprisonment.