Summary
Rowland Stone, velvet-clad relic of a crumbling Washington dynasty, drifts through the echoing parlors of his ancestral pile while the calendar taunts him with the promise of a fortune that will bloom, supposedly, on his twenty-fifth revolution around the sun. Anna Mae Byrd—lips like fresh cherries, mind like a switchblade—hovers at the edge of his gaze, half promise, half reproach. Into this wax-museum existence barges Thomas Snow, Rowland’s Black childhood comrade, whose nimble hustle keeps the chandeliers lit and the creditors baying; together they stage a pantomime of genteel solvency, pawning Rococo chairs for grocery money. Across the Atlantic, the imaginary kingdom of Bunkonia—equal parts Ruritanian operetta and powder-keg—coughs up the foppish conspirator Enrico de Castanet, shepherded by Countess de Plotz, a pan-European man-eater whose cigarette holder doubles as a semaphore for espionage. Their quarry: a malleable U.S. consul; their weapon: geopolitical blackmail stitched inside a life-insurance scam. When Colonel Byrd—Anna Mae’s bluff pater—gets the post, Rowland’s inheritance evaporates into a cruel sinecure: junior actuary in his late father’s insurance house, forbidden to hemorrhage a cent. Dragged to Bunkonia under the pretext of underwriting the bibulous monarch and his bibulous court, Rowland stumbles into a carnival of assassins, bomb-plotters, and palace orgies where champagne flows like printer’s ink. Overnight the idle dandy becomes reluctant custodian of a tottering crown, juggling actuarial tables, royal protocol, and his own trembling heart. After rooftop chases, masked balls, and a last-second defenestration of the coup, Rowland rescues king, country, and capitalist honor—only to discover that true payoff is Anna Mae’s hand, earned not by inheritance but by audacity.
Synopsis
Washingtonian Rowland Stone, who is in love with Anna Mae Byrd, lives in the family mansion awaiting his 25th birthday when he is to inherit his father's fortune. His Negro friend, Thomas Snow, hocks furniture to pay the bills and help him keep up appearances. Enrico de Castanet arrives from the country of Bunkonia in the "Pyranees," accompanied by the international vamp and spy, Countess de Plotz, in hopes of attracting a pliable American consul who will not interfere with their revolutionary plot; Colonel Byrd is appointed. Rowland discovers that his inheritance is merely a job with his father's insurance company and that he is obligated not to lose any of the company's money. Arriving in Bunkonia, he is persuaded by the conspirators to insure the lives of the drunken king and council, whom they plan to assassinate. Rowland finds himself in the position of protector to royalty, and, after many exciting adventures, he saves the country and wins Anna Mae and his inheritance.
