A smoothly and colorfully written narrative, patterned to give romantic appeal yet fully cognizant of the more exciting aspects of its central theme, the Blennerhasset plot, is told through the eyes of Faith Arnold, a Marietta girl who goes to be a governess for the Blennerhasset children on the island the family owned in the river. There one gets an immediate sense of what an exciting family the Blennerbassets were. Their whole estate, magnificent and isolated as it was and complete from vegetable garden to the scientific equipment Mr. Blennerhasset loved to work with, spoke for their interesting, many-sided characters. Faith becomes their firm friend. Even after the visits from Burr and the exposure of the plot to set up a government with Blennerhasset's help (though here his partially innocent role in the matter is made clear), Faith cannot shake herself free from the thought of their friendliness, their innate good manners and education. The tragedy of their departure is softened by Faith's romance with a Marietta boy the Blennerhassets tried to use in their negotiations, but the end result remains a sensitive study in divided loyalties and mistaken trusts. Marion Havighurst's other books, written with her husband, have included two other American background stories for Winston's Land of the Free Series.