The Passionate Elopement

The Passionate Elopement is a sparkling satire of manners set in Curtain Wells, a fashionable inland spa where health cures, flirtation, gossip, and social display are all part of the same ritual. From the disciplined morning promenades at the Pump Room to masquerades, valentine schemes, tea tables, and carefully staged public entertainments, the novel delights in exposing the absurd machinery of high society while celebrating its wit and theatrical energy. At the center is Phyllida Courteen, caught between poetic romance and the harder realities of money, rank, and desire. Around her move the polished and formidable Beau Ripple, master of the resort's social order; the reflective Francis Vernon, whose courtship is shadowed by inheritance and calculation; and the witty poet Mr. Lovely, whose playful verses and disguises add to the comic confusion. As flirtation turns tense at a Chinese masquerade and private confessions follow in Phyllida's chamber, the story balances elegance with danger, tenderness with satire, and the formal pleasures of courtship with the emotional awakening of a young woman on the brink of adulthood. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.