Cover of A Love Story

A Love Story

  • Free to read
  • 6 hours to read
  • 38 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"A Love Story" by William Harvey Christie is a novel written in the early 19th century. The narrative follows the Delmé family, particularly focusing on Sir Henry Delmé, his sister Emily, and their brother George, juxtaposing their lives, ambitions, and relationships against the backdrop of social expectations and personal desires. Central to the tale is the exploration of love and familial duty as Sir Henry grapples with his aspirations and the bonds that connect him to his family. At the start of the book, the Delmé family's ancestral home is introduced, setting the scene for their storied past. The opening chapters detail Sir Henry's commitment to restoring his family's legacy while also highlighting Emily's character and her burgeoning relationship with Clarendon Gage. The narrative quickly reveals George's hidden tumult, exacerbated by feelings toward the charming Acmé, a young Greek woman, while underscoring themes of loyalty, ambition, and the implications of societal norms in romantic pursuits. As tensions arise from George's love for Acmé and Sir Henry's own evolving feelings, the stakes grow higher for the characters, promising emotional depth and turmoil as they navigate their intertwined fates.

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  • Fiction

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Chapter I

The Family.

"It was a vast and venerable pile."

"Oh, may'st thou ever be as now thou art,
Nor unbeseem the promise of thy spring."

The mansion in which dwelt the Delmés was one of wide and extensive range. Its centre slightly receded, leaving a wing on either side. Fluted ledges, extending the whole length of the building, protruded above each story. These were supported by quaint heads of satyr, martyr, or laughing triton. The upper ledge, which concealed the roof from casual observers, was of considerably greater projection. Placed above it, at intervals, were balls of marble, which, once of pure white, had now caught the time-worn hue of the edifice itself. At each corner of the front and wings, the balls were surmounted by the family device—the eagle with extended wing. One claw closed over the stone, and the bird rode it proudly an' it had been the globe. The portico, of a pointed Gothic, would have seemed heavy, had it not been lightened by glass doors, the vivid colours of which were not of modern date. These admitted to a capacious hall, where, reposing on the wide-spreading antlers of some pristine tenant of the park, gleamed many a piece of armour that in days of yore had not been worn ingloriously.

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Contents

Show all 38 chapters
  1. Preface
  2. Chapter I
  3. Chapter II
  4. Chapter III
  5. Chapter IV
  6. Chapter V
  7. Chapter III
  8. Chapter VII
  9. Chapter VIII
  10. Chapter IX
  11. Chapter X
  12. Chapter XI
  13. Chapter XII
  14. Chapter XIII
  15. Chapter XIV
  16. Chapter XV
  17. Chapter XVI
  18. Chapter XVII
  19. Chapter XVIII
  20. Chapter XIX
  21. Chapter XX
  22. Chapter I
  23. Chapter II
  24. Chapter III
  25. Chapter IV
  26. Chapter V
  27. Chapter VI
  28. Chapter VII
  29. Chapter VIII: Arguà
  30. Chapter IX
  31. Chapter X
  32. Chapter XI
  33. Chapter XII
  34. Chapter XIII
  35. Chapter XIV
  36. Chapter XV
  37. Chapter XVI
  38. Chapter XVII

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About this edition

This free edition of A Love Story by William Harvey Christie comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #8883, released 2005-09-01. 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: Romance, Novels, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).