Eugenie DesChamps thinks she is safe, hidden in the English village of Little Houghton. She paints landscapes to supplement her income. She embarks on a flirtation with Charles Audley. To her the world seems radiant, so very different from eight years ago. No one knows that she once was a toast of Paris, a pretense she used to acquire information to pass on to English spies. Eugenie hated the corrupt French government that had caused the deaths of her family. Then a French agent discovered her double game. She barely escaped with her life. Eight years ago, Tobias Kennit worked with Eugenie, stealing information about Napoleon’s troop movements. Then their operation crashed. He fled, believing that Eugenie was executed as a traitor to her home country. Toby abandoned his undercover spying and became a gamester and a rake. Yet now the English spycatcher Roger Nazenby has approached Toby once more. He wants him to protect a cryptographer living in the village of Little Houghton. French spies have infiltrated England to capture Charles Audley and return with him to France. Toby agrees to the assignment only because the woman he wants to marry (Melly Ratcliffe) lives in that village.