
After a two‑year absence from New England, Davenant finds himself staying with the Temples in the seaside town of Waverton. A chance dinner invitation from Miss Guion, a poised and socially seasoned woman, forces him to confront a memory of a youthful indiscretion that still lingers beneath his polished exterior. Their conversation, polite yet tinged with unspoken history, sets the stage for a delicate dance of admiration, curiosity, and lingering regret.
Meanwhile, the town buzzes with news of an imminent marriage between the handsome Lieutenant‑Colonel Rupert Ashley and the spirited Olivia Guion, a union that bridges American optimism and British propriety. As gifts arrive and rumors swirl about past entanglements, the characters gather around tea tables and church parades, each maneuvering through expectations and whispered judgments. Listeners are invited to step onto the Street Called Straight, where social graces mask deeper desires and the path to happiness is anything but linear.
Language
en
Duration
~9 hours (571K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Rick Niles, Karina Aleksandrova and the PG Online Distributed Proofreading Team
Release date
2004-12-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1859–1928
A Canadian-born novelist and Episcopal clergyman, he found a wide audience with early 20th-century fiction that mixed romance, moral conflict, and spiritual questions. His books were popular on both sides of the Atlantic and several were adapted for the screen.
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