Margaret Dispeau leaves home for a girl's boarding school, hoping to avoid her relentless pursuit by her cousin and suitor Frederick Pontiac, and there Marge befriends Nora McNeal, an forlorn, over-worked charity scholar.
Written by "Mrs. Georgie Sheldon" (Sarah Elizabeth Forbush Downs 18431926), and copyright 1887, 1893, 1900 by Street and Smith.
Transcribed and edited by Jeffrey Merrow. 37 chapters, 314 pages, 104,500 words.
Chapters: The Viper Unmasked At Bay A Boarding-school Girl The Charity Scholar Facing the Foe Playing the Spy A Great Triumph The Plotters In the Lion's Den Nora's Story Discovering the Traitor For Freedom Of Near Kin The Old Gardener's Story The Unwelcome Visitor At the Adirondacks The Abduction A Double Indignity Mrs. Upton Begins the "Treatment" The Bridal Party Villainy Defeated Madge's Stratagem "Is he not Dead?" The Grotto Dweller The Secret Panel Led by a Dream A Fine Little Plot Proofs of Villainy An Unexpected Avowal The Specter The Unbidden Guests Once More a Prisoner Fire at Sea Saved The Reunion Farewell.