Miss Tonks Takes a Risk // Miss Tonks Turns to Crime — Marion Chesney

The fashionable Poor Relation hotel has rescued its six owners from genteel poverty, but they need ready cash for its upkeep. Once more, one of them must discreetly rob a rich relative.

The faded spinster Miss Letitia Tonks is dispatched to disguise herself as a highwayman and hold up the carriage that is transporting her nip-farthing sister and her lovely young niece, Cassandra. But by a twist of fate, their dashing prankish neighbor, Lord Eston, himself masked as a highwayman, does the deed for her -- and grabs the opportunity to dazzle Cassandra with a swift kiss.

In London, while Cassandra is helping the poor relations uncover conspiracy at a rival hotel, she is recognized by Lord Eston. Although she cannot forget the highwayman, she could let herself feel a tendre for this handsome lord -- did he not think himself far above young misses in the hotel trade! And, despite himself, Eston -- smitten with her spirited ways and golden freckles -- is soon drawn into the intrigues that swirl around The Poor Relation.