The time and the place of Catherine's first meeting with Hugh Murdoch, whose secretary she was about to become, were uncommonly ill-chosen (if you could call it choosing), and as for loved ones, Catherine was engaged to a handsome young sports master, and looking forward to an early and blissful marriage. The part, if any, that love played in Hugh's life was obscure, but it seemed that there was a lovely, mysterious blonde who was more than willing to devote herself to him. From their first odd meeting Catherine and Hugh had a strangely unsettling relationship, bedevilled with misunderstandings, yet it was destined to develop into one of lasting happiness.