Colonel Campbell is a military officer who was once nursed through camp-fever by Lieut. Fairfax. He was so grateful that when he learned Fairfax's daughter Jane had been orphaned, he and his wife invited her to live with them in London and be educated alongside their daughter. The Campbells came to love Jane as one of their own, but his fortune and income is not large enough to provide for Jane beyond that and she must become a governess.
He is a little deaf, and he thought sea-bathing would help, which brought his family to Weymouth where they furthered their acquaintance with Mr. Dixon and Frank Churchill. His daughter married Mr. Dixon and settled in Ireland, and her parents went to visit her there. Jane was invited to join them, but she went to visit her grandmother Mrs. Bates and aunt Hetty Bates in Highbury instead. It is decided that Jane will not seek a position as a governess until the Campbells return.
The people of Highbury suspect he sent Jane the pianoforte when really it was Frank Churchill. Jane dreads telling Colonel Campbell about her secret engagement. The Campbells return and collect Jane from Highbury before her wedding in November.