In the darkness Sir Richard Guyfford, aware that some one is breaking into his house, stands rigid and alert. A leap, a faint cry followed by a fall, and light of a candle reveals his victim -- Lady Helen D'Arcy, reigning beauty and toast. She had come to steal a letter written to Sir Richard. Taunting him for being the villain and reprobate that gossip asserted, Lady Helen leaves -- with the letter in her possession. The beginning of this delightful and typically Farnolesque novel of England in the early seventeen hundreds is but a taste of what is to follow. There is Cousin Julian, who more than deserves Richard's reputation, a group of shady gentlemen in Julian's power, an Irish duchess with a French name, and many another, equally picturesque. And there is more, much more as Sir Richard is accused of the murder of his double-dealing cousin. Needless to say, the story is a network of intrigue and misunderstandings, all of which are handled with Mr. Farnol's extraordinarily skillful touch and with a literary charm reminiscent of his many successes.
