![Book Cover of Basil](/image/book/basil.webp)
Basil
'Basil' Summary
Basil, son of a father who values the family pedigree and who would not let him marry below his station, falls in love at first sight with a girl he sees on a bus. He follows her and discovers she is Margaret Sherwin, only daughter of a linen draper. He persuades her father to let him marry her secretly. He agrees on the condition, that, as his daughter is only seventeen, they live apart for the first year. At first the secret works, but then the mysterious Mannion, whose emotions cannot be read in his face, returns from abroad. On the last night of the year Basil follows Margaret and Mannion and discovers them in flagrante delicto. Basil attacks Mannion in the street and tries to murder him, but succeeds only in mutilating his face by pushing it into the fresh tarmacadam in the road. Mannion survives, recovers and swears revenge, and it is revealed that Basil's father indirectly caused Mannion's father to be hanged for forgery.
Basil repudiates Margaret, but Sherwin threatens him with exposure unless he holds to his marriage. Basil confesses to his father, who disowns him, but his sister Clara stands by him. Basil's brother Ralph undertakes to buy Sherwin off, but meanwhile Margaret flees to Mannion, thereby acknowledging her guilt. Visiting Mannion in hospital, she catches typhus and dies. Basil, having been put on her track by Ralph, visits her on her deathbed.
Basil flees from Mannion to Cornwall. The dénouement is worthy of Conan Doyle, set among whirlpools and cliffs near Lands End.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1852Author
![Wilkie Collins image](/thumbs/image/author/wilkie-collins.webp)
Wilkie Collins
London
William Wilkie Collins was an English novelist and playwright known for The Woman in White (1859), and for The Moonstone (1868), which has been called the first modern English detective novel. B...
More on Wilkie CollinsDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
![A Bullet for Cinderella Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/a-bullet-for-cinderella.webp)
A Bullet for Cinderella by John D MacDonald
In the sun-drenched Florida Keys, a restless former POW named Tal Howard is haunted by a tale of buried treasure from a fellow soldier who didn't make...
![The Red Lamp Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-red-lamp.webp)
The Red Lamp by Mary Roberts Rinehart
The Red Lamp is a fascinating mystery about a haunted house. William A. Porter, professor of English, inherits a large seaside house from his Uncle Ho...
![The Dark House Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-dark-house.webp)
The Dark House by George Manville Fenn
An extremely wealthy but reclusive man has died, leaving an eccentric will which hints at great riches hidden somewhere in the house. Most of the peop...
![The House on the Borderland Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-house-on-the-borderland.webp)
The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson
Deep within the remote and desolate moors, lies a house shrouded in enigmatic darkness, where reality and the supernatural intertwine in a relentless...
![An Eye For An Eye Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/an-eye-for-an-eye.webp)
An Eye For An Eye by William Le Queux
The enigmatic protagonist, John Mallathorpe, finds himself entangled in a web of treachery that spans continents and transcends time. When a series o...
![The Annals of Ann Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-annals-of-ann.webp)
The Annals of Ann by Kate Trimble Sharber
"The Annals of Ann" by Kate Trimble Sharber takes readers on an enthralling journey into the life of Ann, a woman with a secret so profound, it will l...
![The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-adventure-of-charles-augustus-milverton.webp)
The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton by Arthur Conan Doyle
It is a captivating detective story. This book follows the famous detective duo, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, as they investigate the case of...
![No. 17 (Number Seventeen) Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/no-17-number-seventeen.webp)
No. 17 (Number Seventeen) by J. Jefferson Farjeon
The story centered around a group of strangers who find themselves trapped in a remote house after their train is delayed. As they wait for the next t...
![The Black Box Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/the-black-box.webp)
The Black Box by E. Phillips Oppenheim
Created a technological marvel—an impenetrable black box with the power to change the course of nations. Its contents are shrouded in mystery, its pur...
![Jezebel's Daughter Cover image](/thumbs/image/book/jezebels-daughter.webp)
Jezebel's Daughter by Wilkie Collins
A brilliant chemist and a shrewd businessman — die on the same day. The widow of the chemist, Mrs. Fontaine, is left with the poisons he was researchi...
Reviews for Basil
No reviews posted or approved, yet...