Cirrus@Austlit

In a dingy London room in January 1858, Annie Wyndham dies in poverty, destroyed by alcohol and dissipation, with the company of her friend in misery, Jane, a doctor and a nurse. She entrusts Jane with her marriage license and begs her to tell her husband of her death and her love for him. Jane determines to revenge Annie's death and follows Arthur Wyndham to Australia where he has married Grace Maitland and owns the beautiful station, Yangarilla. Jane's plot involves masquerading as Annie to bring shame to Arthur, his wife and child. Arthur disappears and is presumed dead before she can see him, but she bargains for an annuity and Grace leaves Yangarilla knowing she has no claim to be Arthur's wife if the story is true ... The search for the truth carries the story to London, through a friendly encounter with the doctor now turned American colonial, to unmasking the imposter in Australia, a tragic attack of the DTs and a double return from the dead. (PB)