[3] The Explorer, tells the story of Nicolas Hale, a transplanted Vermonter who was inspired by Hiram Bingham's amazing discovery of Machu Picchu in Peru.

He has been her ideal suitor for a long time, and she quickly agrees to a fast marriage just five days before he departs on a new exploring venture in Peru.

He doesn't hide from her that she'll never be able to share his life there, and that exploring is his only great passion, and that she would have to endure long periods of separation from him.

Nicolas only visits on occasion over the next five years, spending the majority of his time in the Andes in quest of the hidden city whose discovery, if his aspirations are realized, will offer him fame and prosperity, but his absence leads to a separation from his wife and a marriage that ends with disastrous consequences.

Margaret Porterfied, of Hills' End Plantation, Virginia, who becomes the wife of Nicolas Hale.