Cover of The Seventh Noon

The Seventh Noon

  • Free to read
  • 5 hours to read
  • 28 chapters
  • Reading level: 6th grade

"The Seventh Noon" by Frederick Orin Bartlett is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story revolves around Peter Donaldson, a disillusioned young man who grapples with his place in a society that seems unwelcoming to his aspirations. He embarks on a darkly contemplative journey, contemplating the idea of freedom from life's burdens as he comes to terms with the worth of existence. At the start of the narrative, we are introduced to Professor Barstow and Peter Donaldson, as they engage in a heated discussion about the value of life and the right to choose death. Their conversation reveals Donaldson's inner turmoil, stemming from personal struggles and dissatisfaction with the constraints imposed by societal expectations. When Barstow demonstrates a poison he has created, which takes a week to kill, Donaldson is struck by the idea of escaping his troubles through a similar means. As the narrative develops, he is drawn to a mysterious woman named Miss Arsdale, who enters the professor's laboratory, hinting at a connection that may alter the course of his thoughts and impending decisions. Donaldson decides to live fully for a week, free from the future's constraints, promising to give up his life if it serves a higher purpose, setting the stage for a compelling exploration of life, love, mortality, and the choices we make.

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  • Fiction

Read the opening

Chapter I: The Black Dog

"The right to die?"

Professor Barstow, with a perplexed scowl ruffling the barbette of gray hairs above his keen eyes, shook his head and turning from the young man whose long legs extended over the end of the lean sofa upon which he sprawled in one corner of the laboratory, held the test-tube, which he had been studying abstractedly, up to the light. The flickering gas was not good for delicate work, and it was only lately that Barstow, spurred on by a glimpse of the end to a long series of experiments, had attempted anything after dark. He squinted thoughtfully at the yellow fluid in the tube and then, resuming his discussion, declared emphatically,

"We have no such right, Peter! You 're wrong. I don't know where, because you put it too cleverly for me. But I know you 're dead wrong—even if your confounded old theories are right, even if your deductions are sound. You 're wrong where you bring up."

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Contents

Show all 28 chapters
  1. Chapter I: The Black Dog
  2. Chapter II: King of To-day
  3. Chapter III: The Beginning of the End
  4. Chapter IV: Kismet
  5. Chapter V: The Inner Woods
  6. Chapter VI: The Shadow on the Portraits
  7. Chapter VII: The Arsdales
  8. Chapter VIII: The Man Who Knew
  9. Chapter IX: Dawn
  10. Chapter X: Outside the Hedge
  11. Chapter XI: A Parting and a Meeting
  12. Chapter XII: District Messenger 3457
  13. Chapter XIII: The Sleepers
  14. Chapter XIV: Consequences
  15. Chapter XV: The Derelict
  16. Chapter XVI: The Fourth Day
  17. Chapter XVII: An Interlude
  18. Chapter XVIII: The Making of a Man
  19. Chapter XIX: A Miracle
  20. Chapter XX: A Long Night
  21. Chapter XXI: Facing the Sun
  22. Chapter XXII: Clouds
  23. Chapter XXIII: When the Dead Awake
  24. Chapter XXIV: The Greater Master
  25. Chapter XXV: The Shadow on the Floor
  26. Chapter XXVI: On the Brink
  27. Chapter XXVII: The End of the Beginning
  28. Chapter XXVIII: The Seventh Noon

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About this edition

This free edition of The Seventh Noon by Frederick Orin Bartlett comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #20429, released 2007-01-24. 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: Novels, American Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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