{"product_id":"2940014476386","title":"Frankenstein","description":"Chapter 1\u003cbr\u003eI am by birth a Genevese, and my family is one of the most distinguished of that republic. My ancestors had\u003cbr\u003ebeen for many years counsellors and syndics, and my father had filled several public situations with honourand reputation. He was respected by all who knew him for his integrity and indefatigable attention to public\u003cbr\u003ebusiness. He passed his younger days perpetually occupied by the affairs of his country; a variety of\u003cbr\u003ecircumstances had prevented his marrying early, nor was it until the decline of life that he became a husband\u003cbr\u003eand the father of a family.\u003cbr\u003eAs the circumstances of his marriage illustrate his character, I cannot refrain from relating them. One of his\u003cbr\u003emost intimate friends was a merchant who, from a flourishing state, fell, through numerous mischances, into\u003cbr\u003epoverty. This man, whose name was Beaufort, was of a proud and unbending disposition and could not bear to\u003cbr\u003elive in poverty and oblivion in the same country where he had formerly been distinguished for his rank and\u003cbr\u003emagnificence. Having paid his debts, therefore, in the most honourable manner, he retreated with his daughter\u003cbr\u003eto the town of Lucerne, where he lived unknown and in wretchedness. My father loved Beaufort with the\u003cbr\u003etruest friendship and was deeply grieved by his retreat in these unfortunate circumstances. He bitterly\u003cbr\u003edeplored the false pride which led his friend to a conduct so little worthy of the affection that united them. He\u003cbr\u003elost no time in endeavouring to seek him out, with the hope of persuading him to begin the world again\u003cbr\u003ethrough his credit and assistance. Beaufort had taken effectual measures to conceal himself, and it was ten\u003cbr\u003emonths before my father discovered his abode. Overjoyed at this discovery, he hastened to the house, which\u003cbr\u003ewas situated in a mean street near the Reuss. But when he entered, misery and despair alone welcomed him.\u003cbr\u003eBeaufort had saved but a very small sum of money from the wreck of his fortunes, but it was sufficient to\u003cbr\u003eprovide him with sustenance for some months, and in the meantime he hoped to procure some respectable\u003cbr\u003eemployment in a merchant's house. The interval was, consequently, spent in inaction; his grief only became\u003cbr\u003emore deep and rankling when he had leisure for reflection, and at length it took so fast hold of his mind that at\u003cbr\u003ethe end of three months he lay on a bed of sickness, incapable of any exertion.\u003cbr\u003eHis daughter attended him with the greatest tenderness, but she saw with despair that their little fund was\u003cbr\u003erapidly decreasing and that there was no other prospect of support. But Caroline Beaufort possessed a mind of\u003cbr\u003ean uncommon mould, and her courage rose to support her in her adversity. She procured plain work; she\u003cbr\u003eplaited straw and by various means contrived to earn a pittance scarcely sufficient to support life.\u003cbr\u003eSeveral months passed in this manner. Her father grew worse; her time was more entirely occupied in\u003cbr\u003eattending him; her means of subsistence decreased; and in the tenth month her father died in her arms, leaving\u003cbr\u003eher an orphan and a beggar. This last blow overcame her, and she knelt by Beaufort's coffin weeping bitterly,\u003cbr\u003ewhen my father entered the chamber. He came like a protecting spirit to the poor girl, who committed herself\u003cbr\u003eto his care; and after the interment of his friend he conducted her to Geneva and placed her under the\u003cbr\u003eprotection of a relation. Two years after this event Caroline became his wife.\u003cbr\u003eThere was a considerable difference between the ages of my parents, but this circumstance seemed to unite\u003cbr\u003ethem only closer in bonds of devoted affection. There was a sense of justice in my father's upright mind which\u003cbr\u003erendered it necessary that he should approve highly to love strongly. Perhaps during former years he had\u003cbr\u003esuffered from the late-discovered unworthiness of one beloved and so was disposed to set a greater value on\u003cbr\u003etried worth. There was a show of gratitude and worship in his attachment to my mother, differing wholly from\u003cbr\u003ethe doting fondness of age, for it was inspired by reverence for her virtues and a desire to be the means of, in\u003cbr\u003esome degree, recompensing her for the sorrows she had endured, but which gave inexpressible grace to his\u003cbr\u003ebehaviour to her. Everything was made to yield to her wishes and her convenience. He strove to shelter her, as\u003cbr\u003ea fair exotic is sheltered by the gardener, from every rougher wind and to surround her with all that could tend\u003cbr\u003eto excite pleasurable emotion in her soft and benevolent mind. Her health, and even the tranquillity of her\u003cbr\u003ehitherto constant spirit, had been shaken by what she had gone through. During the two years that had elapsed\u003cbr\u003eprevious to their marriage my father had gradually relinquished all his public functions; and immediately after\u003cbr\u003etheir union they sought the pleasant climate of Italy, and the change of scene and interest attendant on a","brand":"All classic book warehouse","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47171235774704,"sku":"2940014476386","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940014476386_p0.jpg?v=1763609354","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940014476386","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}