The Corsair Queen; or, The Gypsies of the Sea

"The Corsair Queen; or, The Gipsies of the Sea" by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham This serialized romance follows Queena Gray, a wealthy American heiress traveling in Spain, and Vincent Vance, a handsome man who has pursued her affections. When Queena reveals she befriended his seduction victim Lou Wallace—who took her own life after Vance's betrayal aboard ship—she declares her hatred for him. Vance vows revenge and journeys to a Gipsy encampment near an abandoned, reputedly haunted Spanish castle to hire assassin Chandos, the Gipsy King, to murder Queena. He offers a hundred onzas, arranging her death when she visits the ruins with friends three days hence. However, when Queena's party arrives at the castle, Chandos appears in its entrance, his eyes meeting hers in a moment of striking connection that complicates the murder arrangement.