Miss Annabel Ashton is a teacher at the Rogers School for Young Ladies in Winchester when she takes a brief visit to her family home, Highcliffe Hall at Milford-on-Sea. She believes her stay will be short, but soon learns that she will not be returning to the safety of the school on strict orders of her cousin, Edward Everedge. Annabel protests, but with little effect. As the illegitimate daughter of a woman who died in an insane asylum, she has little...