Jane Feather's story: Edward (Ned) Vasey, Viscount Allenton, is travelling during a snowstorm to Alnwick in Northumberland to spend Christmas with old family friends, whose daughter he is intending to propose to (more out of duty than desire) when his coach is ambushed by a group of young ruffians. As the storm worsens, he takes refuge at the large mansion of Lord Selby whose ward, Georgiana Carey, intrigues Ned. Soon he realizes that Georgiana is one of the ruffians who robbed him the night of the snowstorm and is being kept prisoner by her guardian at Selby Hall. Ned offers her a way out - marriage to him.