Basil

Wilkie Collins's Basil (1852) is the story of a young naive man of a noble family who falls in love at first sight with a poor but beautiful young lady. Afraid of his stern father, he secretly marries her, but he is thoroughly shocked to discover her affair with Robert Mannion, her father's clerk. Collins unveils the connections between Mannion and Basil's father and accounts for the venom of Mannion's revenge.