From somewhere deep in the house a cry rang out - a cry so distressing, speaking as it did of terror and night-fright - that John Weston felt his blood chill and every hackle on his body rise. He was not a nervous man but that terrible sound brought back to his mind something that he had long ago dismissed - the legend of the curse of Sutton Place... moreFrom somewhere deep in the house a cry rang out - a cry so distressing, speaking as it did of terror and night-fright - that John Weston felt his blood chill and every hackle on his body rise. He was not a nervous man but that terrible sound brought back to his mind something that he had long ago dismissed - the legend of the curse of Sutton Place. But John Weston, the last male descendant of Sir Richard the builder, did not believe in the evil that had dogged his ancestors, and put all the ill-luck down to coincidence.The Silver Swan tells not only his story but also that of his beautiful silverhaired daughter, Melior Mary, and her fatal desire for two men; one a strange orphan boy from Calais, the other Prince Charles Edward Stuart - the Young Pretender himself. The pages swarm with the great characters of history - Alexander Pope the deformed poet, Captain Charles Wogan the Jacobite spy, Princess Clementina Sobieski the bride of the Old Pretender and Joseph Gage the Rake Hell and dandy. All were destined to know and love Melior Mary but she was damned by the ancient spell of her mansion house. less
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