"A WHOLE MONTH IN THE COUNTRY, WITH A VERY HANDSOME GENTLEMAN TO SQUIRE YOU ABOUT!" A delightful prospect for Miss Caroline Barnes from Stepney in London. But on arrival in Woodham she found her cousin Julia languishing in a lonely, wretched condition. As for the handsome gentleman...Julia's step-brother Mr. Hartwell was undoubtedly cold, domineering and heartless, wholly lacking in sensibility. As Caroline speculated about the mysterious nature of Mr. Hartwell's travels, and his strange visitors, she became convinced that he was a spy. If he wasn't a spy, what was he? And was he really arrogant and disagreeable ­ or had she perhaps mistaken his character from the first?