Maria had never known her father — and didn’t particularly regret the fact. Nevertheless, she did have a lot of curiosity about him, and she very much wanted to go to New Zealand to see if she could find any trace of him. So it was a stroke of luck when old Mrs. Alberta Jensen offered to pay her fare there in return for looking after her on the journey, although Maria could have done without Mrs. Jensen’s disapproving great-nephew Struan Manderville, who suspected her of being little better than a gold-digger. But could Maria really do without Struan?
Maria had never known her father — and didn’t particularly regret the fact. Nevertheless, she did have a lot of curiosity about him, and she very much wanted to go to New Zealand to see if she could find any trace of him. So it was a stroke of luck when old Mrs. Alberta Jensen offered to pay her fare there in return for looking after her on the journey, although Maria could have done without Mrs. Jensen’s disapproving great-nephew Struan Manderville, who suspected her of being little better than a gold-digger. But could Maria really do without Struan?