Begun in 1914 Caine's "The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin" had been set aside for the duration of the Great War and resumed on the day after armistice in 1918. It is the story of Bessie Collister who has an illegitimate child. The baby's father Victor Stowell, as judge, has to try Bessie for the murder of their child. Heinmann published the novel in July 1921. Of the initial one hundred thousand copies printed seventy thousand were advance orders. Due to his age and health Caine announced it was to be his last novel. Sales of "The Eternal City" in English had reached one million and fifty-two English editions of "The Deemster" had been published.