Red-haired, blue-eyed Nurse Lyle Mackey was a warmhearted girl who liked taking care of the twenty wealthy and elderly women who were the guests at Harewood House. They, in turn, were fond of her — until, unexpectedly, she became involved in the mysterious theft of a valuable emerald ring, an heirloom that belonged to Miss Pringle, one of the guests.

Dr. Tom Blake, Miss Pringle’s nephew, invited Lyle out to dinner and the theater. And, to Lyle’s surprise and dismay, she found herself in a gambling house, not the theater. She refused to go out with the young doctor again; whereupon, Tom vowed that she would be a very sorry young woman.

Mark Lennon, an enterprising young architect, wanted Lyle to give up her work at Harewood House and marry him. But Lyle, reveling in her freedom and independence, had asked him to wait until she could be sure that she really loved him.

After the young nurse had found the emerald and it had disappeared a second time, Harewood House buzzed with suspicion. The guests silently accused Lyle of the theft by refusing to let her minister to them. And the household staff, who did not believe Lyle to be a thief, were helpless to defend her because of lack of evidence.

How the disappearance of a valuable ring is finally solved, and the role played by Mark in recovering it, makes an absorbing story.