The slaver's son, Charlie, has lost his governess in a fall down the stairs of the family's palatial mansion. Anne suspects the death might not have been an accident and begins to investigate.

She is aided by her friend and suitor, Paul de Saint-Martin, together with his adjutant, Georges Charpentier. They believe the young woman's death may have been the work of that renegade French army officer, Captain Fitzroy, already accused of a brutal rape in Paris. He has found refuge at the mansion with his cousin and intimate friend, Lady Margaret, wife of Sir Harry Rogers, the slaver.

Anne discovers she must protect as well as teach the deaf boy. He is threatened by Rogers' ward, William, a big teen-age boy with a grown man's bad habits. She also has to cope with Sir Harry's clerk and spy, Edward Critchley, an educated man trapped in genteel poverty.

Finally, enter Lord Jeff. The black footman, a bare-knuckle fighter of impressive skill, may win Sir Harry a large purse. But the slave has his own agenda. The abolition of slavery is a hot topic in a city that draws much of its wealth from the nefarious business.