Publisher's Synopsis
Luke de Mountford, heir to his uncle Lord Radcliffe, asks for Louise Harris's hand in marriage. Just when everything seems to be going well, another nephew, Philip, turns up with a claim to his uncle's fortune and Luke is forced to reveal to Louise that their financial future may not be as guaranteed as he had hoped. When Philip is discovered stabbed in a cab, suspicion naturally falls on Luke who certainly has a motive for murder. The head of the Criminal Investigation Department, who happens to be Louisa's uncle, reveals his evidence before the ensuing trial and allows Colonel Harris to conceal himself in his office while a witness for the prosecution details the points of the evidence he will give at the trial. He also reveals that he intends to allow Luke time to escape should the verdict at the inquest be against him. Baroness Emma Magdolna Roz�lia M�ria Jozefa Borb�la "Emmuska" Orczy de Orczi was a Hungarian-born British novelist, playwright and artist of noble origin. She is most known for her series of novels featuring the Scarlet Pimpernel. In 1903, Orczy and her husband wrote a play based on one of her short stories about an English aristocrat, Sir Percy Blakeney, Bart., who rescued French aristocrats from the French Revolution: The Scarlet Pimpernel. The play was accepted for production in the West End and though initially drew only small audiences, it ran four years, broke many stage records, was translated and produced in other countries, and underwent several revivals. This theatrical success generated huge sales for the novel and Orczy went on to write over a dozen sequels. Orczy's novels were racy, mannered melodramas and she favored historical fiction.
