The Earl of Winton was a notorious rake at the Court of Charles II, but falls in love with Sophie when he abducts her in mistake for her cousin Phillipa.They plan their wedding, but Sophie and her parents must go home to France, where her grandmother is ill.Strange happenings follow them, and they suspect Hugo's discarded mistress, Kate Trent, and Monsieur de Terville, a probable agent of King Louis XIV, both of whom wish them ill.