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The Black Robe

by Wilkie Collins (1824–1889)

  • Free to read
  • 7 hours to read
  • 35 chapters
  • Reading level: 7th grade

"The Black Robe" by Wilkie Collins is a novel published in 1881. After accidentally killing a man in a duel, Lewis Romayne returns to England haunted by the victim's brother's screams. When he falls in love with Stella Eyrecourt, a Catholic priest named Father Benwell schemes to convert Romayne and claim his ancestral estate for the Church. The novel explores manipulation, faith, and loyalty through its controversial anti-Catholic lens.

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  • England · Social life and customs · 19th century
  • Murder
  • Priesthood
  • Chastity, Vow of
  • Dueling

Read the opening

Chapter I

THE CONFIDENCES.

IN an upper room of one of the palatial houses which are situated on the north side of Hyde Park, two ladies sat at breakfast, and gossiped over their tea.

The elder of the two was Lady Loring—still in the prime of life; possessed of the golden hair and the clear blue eyes, the delicately-florid complexion, and the freely developed figure, which are among the favorite attractions popularly associated with the beauty of Englishwomen. Her younger companion was the unknown lady admired by Major Hynd on the sea passage from France to England. With hair and eyes of the darkest brown; with a pure pallor of complexion, only changing to a faint rose tint in moments of agitation; with a tall graceful figure, incompletely developed in substance and strength—she presented an almost complete contrast to Lady Loring. Two more opposite types of beauty it would have been hardly possible to place at the same table.

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Contents

Show all 35 chapters
  1. Front Matter
  2. Chapter I
  3. Chapter II
  4. Chapter III
  5. Chapter IV
  6. Chapter V
  7. Chapter VI
  8. Chapter VII
  9. Chapter VIII
  10. Chapter IX
  11. Chapter X
  12. Chapter XI
  13. Chapter XII
  14. Chapter XIII
  15. Chapter I
  16. Chapter II
  17. Chapter III
  18. Chapter IV
  19. Chapter I
  20. Chapter II
  21. Chapter III
  22. Chapter IV
  23. Chapter V
  24. Chapter I
  25. Chapter II
  26. Chapter III
  27. Chapter IV
  28. Chapter V
  29. Chapter VI
  30. Chapter VII
  31. Chapter VIII
  32. Chapter I
  33. Chapter II
  34. Chapter III
  35. Chapter IV

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About this edition

This free edition of The Black Robe by Wilkie Collins comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #1587, released 2006-02-22. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, Novels, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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