Jean Grayson is travelling across the country to visit her much older, married sister in Hawk Valley. Due to a mixup on the final leg of the journey, she has to sit in the public passenger car while her sleeper bunk is sorted. Jean is nervous about this, especially when the only available seat is next to a sketchy looking old man who opening leers at her. Fortunately, a handsome young man is also sitting there, one who makes her feeling immediately safe. When the conductor arrives to announce her sleeper is ready, both men overhear her name and the names of her prominent relations out west. As she's leaving, the old man contrives to place a leather wallet in Jean's care, telling her to deliver it to her brother-in-law.

The old man is a thief called Scathlin, and the young man is named Jasper Holt. Scathlin used to work for Holt, and stole all of his very important papers at the behest of Jean's BIL, who is Jasper's mortal enemy. Holt tracked down Scathlin and has stuck to his side like glue in order to retrieve the papers. He sees what Scathlin does - passing the wallet to Jean - but doesn't try to get it from her.

A few hours later, the train is involved in a horrendous derailment and wreck while crossing a high bridge over water. The cars are on fire, and Jean has to maneuver herself out of her sleeper and drop into the water to escape. Mercifully, another passenger comes to her rescue and drags her from the water - and it turns out to be Jasper Holt!

The two make their way across land towards Hawk Valley on foot, and then horseback, arriving two days later. During these two days, the two have fallen completely head over heels for each other. Before they arrive at Jean's sister's house, Jasper confesses his identity to her and warns her that everyone in Hawk Valley hates him, most of all her BIL. He does not tell her anything about the wallet and does not try to take anything from her, mostly because he suspects that Scathlin removed one or two key documents before giving her the wallet. The two vow to continue trusting in each other, no matter what Hawk Valley has to say about it. Jasper leaves Jean to her family and sets off to find Scathlin.

Jean is greeted with open arms by everybody, and she actually surprises her brother-in-law by giving him the wallet. His reaction makes Jean suspicious, especially when he comes asking for more documents from her. She'd found one that fell out when she initially retrieved it and realized that it belonged to Jasper. She later overhears a conversation between her brother-in-law and one of his cronies in which they quite conveniently outline their plans to basically steal Jasper's property for themselves, but they are missing two key documents, one of which Jean has. She knows she has to return it to Jasper, but he told her he wouldn't come near her family's property, so how can she safely get it back to him?

Meanwhile, Jasper has run Scathlin to ground once again, takes the other important document from his possession, and brings him back to Hawk Valley, basically as an insurance policy. Scathlin tries to threaten Jean for the paper she has, and Jasper swoops to her rescue. She gives him her document, which makes those in her BIL's possession worthless. At the same time, she asks him to participate in the tournament that her family is holding in her honor before she returns east. He does, wins the biggest prize, and suddenly the townsfolk are wondering if all the nasty rumors and innuendo surrounding him are actually true.

Jean returns east to her parents, and she is separated from Jasper for a year(!) before finally reuniting with him. There is a climactic ending and their reunion is very sweet, so this was basically just a feel-good story from pillar to post.

I really enjoyed this. It's low drama, fairly low angst, and basically the story of how a man's reputation can be torn to shreds for no reason at all. There's no Obvious Villain twirling his mustache stage left; and for a GLH book, the religious elements are exceedingly light. There is no proselytizing, no sudden conversion to evangelical ways and means (it's implied to be the reason for Jasper's change in attitude, but there's no explicit come-to-Jesus moment), no judgment to those who aren't Christians, etc. The most that's present here is some prayer, and the fact that Jean's father is a minister and she herself teaches Sunday School classes. Jean herself is of course the apple of everyone's eye, and her sister is forever trying to matchmake for her and an eligible young man in town, but it's not obnoxious. That earned an extra star from me.

This is a very pleasant read, and one I think even non-religious people could enjoy. ( )

A desperation read, but one of grandmother's favorites. I read cereal boxes when nothing else was offered in those days. ( )

I begin my review of this book with the history of my love for this author, Grace Livingston Hill. I grew up reading her stories which I would get from my Grandmother every time I went to visit her. She had bookshelves of her books and I would always take a few home with me to read. I have since tried to collect all of her books in memory of my Grandmother. So I have a special fondness for these stories.
This story begins with a train wreck where Jean Grawson finds herself being rescued from death by Jasper Holt, a man folks don't have much good to say about. But the few days Jean has with stranger named Jasper proves to her that he really is a decent and good man deep down inside. Jasper knows her family will never aprove of him so he sets out to "prove his worth" to the townsfolk and be worthy of Jean. When a near fatal accident puts Jasper's life on the line, Jean finds herself rushing to his side no matter what people may think.
This is a story of how one good woman can change the heart of a man and show him there is good people in the world and how you live your life does make a difference in the world. ( )