The lovely young orphan Sedela Craven is very excited to hear that the Marquis of Windlesham is returning home from active service in the Duke of Wellington's Army in France at the end of the long war against Napoleon Bonaparte.
He, however, lingers on in London with his beautiful lover Lady Esther Hasting, an exquisite yet unscrupulous woman who is unfaithful to him while striving to ensnare him into marriage for his riches and his celebrated title.
Informed of this by her Nanny, Sedela dresses up as the Windles's family ghost, Lady Constance, who appears as a warning whenever the family is in danger.
Entering the Marquis's bedroom at midnight through a secret passage she warns him that he is in grave peril from a woman who is unfaithful to him with a man he trusts as his friend.
To his fury the Marquis soon discovers that the 'ghost' spoke the truth when he catches Esther in bed with his friend.
It is only back at his estate preparing with Sedela for a lavish party for his family and friends that he begins to realise what his heart truly desires and it is Sedela.
But it seems that it is too late, for she has been kidnapped and faces death at the forked tongue of a deadly cobra.
The only hope is that the Marquis can rescue her in time to save her life and their love!

Barbara Cartland was the world's most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery.
She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation.
Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world.
She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven.
Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author.
Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed.
Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone's life.