Sally is the main character of the book. She is a sixteen-year-old girl living in Victorian London in the year 1872. Her father has just died, drowning at sea when his ship Lavinia sank. Sally's mother died when she was just a baby, so she is now an orphan. When she receives a mysterious letter that seems to be from her father, warning her of danger from The Seven Blessings and advising her to seek a man called Marchbanks, she begins to investigate his death further. She soon becomes embroiled in two dangerous mysteries, one involving an infamous Ruby and another involving her father's death and his shipping company. She discovers that her father is actually not her father at all. Major Marchbanks is her father, but he gave her up as a baby in exchange for the Ruby of Agrapur, which had been given to Lockhart as payment for keeping the Maharajah safe. Lockhart raised Sally as his own daughter and never told her the truth. Now Sally will inherit the Ruby from Marchbanks on his death, but Mrs. Holland is desperate to have it for herself. This puts Sally in a lot of danger.
