
A weary nobleman, Gaspard de Vibrac, narrates his life from a crumbling château, haunted by a stain on his family crest that the village still whispers about. He recounts the emptiness of his corridors, the loss of friends in brutal wars, and the lingering sense that death has been kinder than fate. His voice is both bitter and reflective, offering a vivid portrait of a man clinging to the remnants of honor in a world that has turned its back on him.
Against this backdrop, Gaspard is drawn back into the dangerous politics of late‑Renaissance France. A secret list of names, a love‑struck letter, and a delicate embroidered glove pull him toward a conspiracy that once rattled the courts of Paris. As he returns to his ancestral home, he must decide whether to protect his fragile reputation or risk everything for a chance at redemption, all while the shadows of past betrayals loom ever larger.
Language
en
Duration
~7 hours (415K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1901.
Credits
D A Alexander and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net This file was produced from images generously made available by the New York Public Library's Digital Collections.
Release date
2022-09-05
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

d. 1916
An English novelist who wrote fast-moving historical romances after careers in the British Indian Army and the Indian civil service, he became known to readers as S. Levett-Yeats. His popular fiction, including The Honour of Savelli and The Chevalier d'Auriac, helped place him on late-Victorian bestseller lists.
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