It is 1851 and Mrs Rodd has received an unusual commission: wealthy businessman Jacob Welland is dying of consumption, and implores her to find his beloved brother, whom he has not seen for fifteen years. Joshua Welland was an Oxford scholar: brilliant, eccentric, and desperately poor. Nobody can say exactly when he disappeared from his college, but he had taken to wandering the countryside, and one day simply failed to return. Since then, there have been several sightings of his lonely, ragged figure. Ten years ago, a friend spotted him in a gypsy camp, where it was rumoured he was learning great secrets that would one day astound the world. And whilst her old friend Inspector Blackbeard doesn't want to hear any nonsense about gypsies or secrets, Mrs Rodd is convinced that something very sinister is lurking in this peaceful landscape...
