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It's early morning on March 7, 1826, in the city of Liverpool in northwest England.

A carriage pulls up outside a grand three-story villa.

This place, Breckhouse, is an elite boarding school where the wealthiest people send their daughters to prepare them for marriage and motherhood. An elderly servant climbs out of the

carriage, walks to the front stoop of the school, and knocks on the door. After a few moments,

a doorman peers outside. The servant explains that he is a letter for the principal of the school

regarding one of

her pupils. In a forceful voice, the servant says, it's urgent. Inside, the dormant shows the servant

to an office where the principal, a 40-year-old woman named Elizabeth Dalby, is waiting. As the

servant introduces himself, Miss Dalby notices his foreign accent. She can't quite place it, but it sounds like

it might be French, though his English is impeccable. Concern, Miss Dalby watches as the servant

reaches into his waistcoat, pulls out the letter, and hands it to her. As she reads, her concern

deepens. The mother of one of her students has fallen ill, struck with sudden paralysis.

In the letter, her doctor requests that the woman's 15-year-old daughter Ellen be sent home with

a servant at once. Ms. Dalby doesn't hesitate. She sent for Ellen instructing the child to gather

her things. A few minutes later, Ellen hurries out the front door of her school,

wearing a traveling cloak and stout boots. As Ellen follows the servant outside, she realizes

she doesn't recognize him or the green carriage he's come in. The servant explains he's only

recently been employed by the family, and that the carriage belongs to her mother's doctor,

...