Summary

Chapter 1- The novel opens with Cecilia Bassingthwaite and her great-aunt, Miss Darlington, sitting together in their home. Cecelia is reading aloud to her aunt but is interrupted by a knock at the door, which she answers. The man at her door attempts to give her a pamphlet, and she suspects he is a pirate. She tells Miss Darlington as such when she returns. Cecelia begins reading again, then is interrupted by the pirate attempting to break into their home. Cecelia opens the window, startling the pirate, and confronts him. Cecelia confirms that her and her aunt are members of the Wisteria Society, a renowned group of English pirates. The man tells her that a rival, Lady Armitage, has hired an assassin by the name of Eduardo de Luca, at which Miss Darlington laughs. The women shut him out, and then wonder...