AustLit

A runaway marriage in Geneva links beautiful but (unknowingly) low-born Beryl Star and the handsome sybarite Dane Conyers to whom noble birth is all important. Almost immediately after their elopement Beryl discovers the secret of her birth and Dane is informed by his uncle that he is heir to the title and with his cousin Desmond possible inheritor of the earl's estate. The only condition is that he be of sound character and make a brilliant marriage to a woman of noble birth ... Dane resolves to fake his own death mountain-climbing and his valet informs Beryl that Dane is not only dead but that he married her under a false name so that she was not married at all. Alone, penniless and ruined, Beryl seeks work, while Conyers courts his uncle and the heiress he wishes to marry ... Meanwhile Beryl working as a governess in London begins to track down her father - and meets Desmond who falls in love with her. They marry but at the church door she sees her former husband alive ... she separates from Desmond but more troubles are to follow before they find true happiness. (PB)