Coniston

Cynthia Wetherell comes to Miss Sadler's school carrying a heartbreak she has already tried to renounce: her love for Bob Worthington and the painful knowledge that she does not belong among the carefree girls around her. Janet Duncan's warm, unexpected friendship offers a brief comfort, but a packet of newspaper clippings soon shatters Cynthia's fragile composure. The articles attack Jethro Bass as a corrupt political boss and hint that Isaac D. Worthington is leading the fight against him, forcing Cynthia to confront the possibility of betrayal by the man she has loved and trusted all her life. Desperate for truth, Cynthia turns to Miss Lucretia Penniman and then chooses to go alone to Coniston to face Jethro himself. Her loyalty remains unbroken: if he is guilty, she will still stand by him and earn her own living teaching school if need be. As she journeys north through the winter landscape, the town's political tensions intensify. Jethro's return stirs fear among his enemies, especially Isaac Worthington, and his fury over Cynthia's dismissal from the school turns personal and dangerous. Meanwhile, Brampton prepares for a public meeting to fight for Cynthia's reinstatement, even as she dreads having her private sorrow exposed before the town. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.