" I]t belongs with her very best novels ... marks a new departure in its bold and delicate exploration of human psychology and in its economy of style." - Robert Lee Wolff Pregnant and unmarried, seventeen-year-old Irene Thelliston has been sent home from India in disgrace to live with her aunt in rural Ireland. Only one person knows her secret: Lady Mary Harling, a fellow passenger on her sea voyage, who pities her misfortunes and solemnly swears never to divulge her secret. Years later, to Lady Mary'