The Wicked Marquis

Edward Phillips Oppenheim

Jan 1919 · Little, Brown,

Ratings and reviews

Reginald Philip Graham Thursford, Baron Travers, Marquis of Mandeleys, has fallen on bad times: his estates mortgaged, his rents not covering the interest, barely enough cash to maintain the life expected of a peer. The arrival of David Thain, American millionaire, seems like an answer to prayers, as Thain is willing to advance some shares of an American oil company with the expectation of payment when they mature. But Thain is not in fact a stranger to the Marquis; he is the cousin of Miss Marcia Hannaway, whom the Marquis spirited away from her servant's cottage at Mandeleys twenty years prior, and whom the Marquis has ever since supported as a faithful but chaste lover. Thain is under oath to his uncle, Marcia's father, to help him avenge the Marquis' deed, but as he is drawn further into the Marquis' household, he must choose between heeding his conscience and keeping his word.