Meridale Castle was going to rack and ruin,.For eight years the Marquis had been absent-at first with his regiment fighting Napoleon, but later with the gay, ratlish young blades who gathered round the Prince Regent at Carlton House, Now the Castle was dilapidated and un- kept, the servants slovenly. But more than that; there was an atmosphere of fear. Every one was affected. Arabella soon felt it herself. She had been sent to the Castle as companion to Lady Beulah Belmont, an abnormal child. Arabella herself, escaping from her step- father's brutality and only recently recovered from scarlet fever, was in a thin, pale state. Yet, in spite of appearances, she was more than a child, and when the Marquis returned when his life was threatened, and when Arabella was able to find out the cause of the secret fear, then she was to face death and to find love.

Genre: Romance