Asmodée

Marcelle de Barthas is young French widow who since her husbands death some seven years previously has lived a secluded life in her country house with her four children The eldest one Emmy is a beautiful and pure young girl of seventeen who tentatively believes she has a calling to the religious life The second child Bertrand aged fifteen has been sent to England for an exchange holiday with a young English boy Harry Fanning and when the play opens the French children are excitedly awaiting his arrival Also living with the family is a French governess and a tutor Blaise Lebel Lebel has a sombre power over the family and it is the intrusion of Harry that sets in motion in him a wave of resentment and fear