A holiday in Mozambique! To Gwen, the prospect of a visit to Portuguese East Africa would have been an exciting one at any time, but now she hoped, too, that it would help her to recover from an unhappy love affair. As for the motive behind her uncle's invitation, it a seemed straightforward enough one. He wanted to send his small motherless son home for an English education. True, he had hinted at opposition from his wealthy Portuguese in-laws, but surely thought Gwen, it was only a matter of putting his foot down.
Not until she arrived did Gwen realize that her uncle's plans came from a different quarter - from the powerful and self-assured Duque de Condeiro, whose position as the boys godfather made him a doubly formidable opponent.
But Gwen was determined to help her uncle and, incidentally, to get the better of that annoyingly imperious autocrat.