A triple tragedy drives Laura to take refuge in a dream world of long ago at Melloney Park. This gracious Jacobean house and garden once belonged to an Edwardian musician and is now open to the public. As its custodian Laura finds it a haven from the harsh world outside and the spirit of the family who once lived there is a soothing balm which protects her from the necessity of looking forward.

Only Ian Vestry, the young friend of her uncle's who found her the job, is an insisting presence threatening to break through her anaesthetised tranquillity.

So Roger Malmesbury's offer of marriage based on friendship and a common interest in the house seems at first a way to complete her insulation against all intrusive and disturbing emotion. The only trouble is that Laura finds there are two people inside her. One huddled against life, clasping an enchanted dream world, the other uncurling painfully, looking round with frightened eyes, recognising perhaps too late that marriage requires more than mere friendship.

A terrible tragedy has left Laura deeply unhappy, her world shattered and her heart numbed by shock and grief. A job as custodian to Melloney Park, a gracious Jacobean mansion, seems the ideal haven for her bruised emotions and offers a chance to lose herself in the past.

Within days, however, the insistent presence of Ian Vestry threatens to break through her anaesthetised tranquillity and Roger Malmesbury's proposal of marriage based on friendship and a shared love for Melloney Park is a welcome compromise. To late, Laura realises that marriage requires more than friendship ...

A triple tragedy drives Laura to take refuge in a dream world at Melloney Park, a gracious Jacobean house now open to the public. As its custodian Laura finds it a haven from the harsh world outside. Only Ian Vestry is an insisting presence threatening to break through her anaesthetised tranquillity. So Roger Malmesbury's offer of marriage based on friendship and a common interest in the house seems at first a way to complete her insulation against all intrusive and disturbing emotion. But Laura discovers there are two people inside her: one huddled against life, clasping an enchanted dream world; the other uncurling painfully, looking round with frightened eyes, recognising perhaps too late that marriage requires more than mere friendship.