Mary-Lou’s father had been an exploring entomologist—he was responsible for finding no fewer than seven different species of butterflies in the upper reaches of the Amazon—and on his last expedition, he and most of his party had been killed in a brush with the wild Indians of those parts. Mrs. Trelawney would have been as wax in the hands of her daughter, for Mary-Lou was a decided young woman and persistent into the bargain. So it was fortunate for everyone that “Gran” was there to insist on obedience, proper manners and a few other important virtues. Even when Mother had married Commander Carey, one of the only two members of the fatal Murray-Cameron expedition to escape, Gran had remained with them and extended her training to Commander Carey’s only child, Verity-Anne, Mary-Lou’s friend and form-mate at the Chalet School.