Stanley Harrison

A fast-talking philanderer and sometime reporter gets caught up in an octogenarian antiquarian's scheme to steal a classical masterwork, the famous Venus of Asterville.

Geraldine, the daughter of a wealthy New Yorker, is in Hungary and about to return to the United States after an absence of seven years. As a farewell, a masked ball is given in her honor at the American Embassy. Count Carlos Kinski, a distinguished young nobleman, is one of the guests and catches a momentary glimpse of her face. He falls in love with her at once and tries in vain to ascertain her identity.