Ross can't resist responding to his dubiously-jailed former Virginia campaign CO and mate colonel Ned Despard's plea to help liberate him and fight the Mosquito Coast wood company conspirators who eliminated him as competition. Elisabeth's death 'in childbirth' embitters George further, near insanity, unable to tolerate even Valentine referring to his late mother, and even more eager for revenge on cuckolding Ross. he not only refuses to honor his pledge to pay for Geoffrey Charles's switch from academic to military education but plans to ally himself with Ned's nemesis company boss Ralph Hanson and maybe even his daughter Cecily, who seems to have her own dark plans. Ned's colored wife joins the abolition movement. Drake shows boundless patience when his wife Morwena remains unable to 'stand' physical intimacy. Ross finds a magistrate willing help Despard whom he failed to spare conviction, especially after the government asks Ross to do 'secret services' after he prevents an armed ... Written by KGF Vissers