Story summary
Samenvatting van High Noon
- 8 min. leestijd
- 8 parts
- Binnenkort te beluisteren
A grieving English baronet follows a veiled stranger from Lucerne to Russia, where a cousin's schemes wait.
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High Noon in het kort
Samenvatting: 8 min leestijd
- Leestijd
- Ongeveer 2 h 40 min2 h 5 min fast, 3 h 10 min slow
- Lengte
- 37.800 woorden
- Bibliotheekniveau
- Gemiddeld longer sentences, everyday words
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Hoelang het duurt om de klassiekers te lezen · Bijgewerkt
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High Noon in short
High Noon follows Sir Paul Verdayne from a final, ritual visit to Lucerne to a pursuit across Europe and into Russia. A handkerchief, a faint perfume and a kiss in a dark tea house draw him after a veiled Russian lady. He loses her in Langres, mistakes another woman for her in Monte Carlo, meets her again at a Paris dinner and tells her he loves her.
What High Noon is about
What would you do if a face you thought lost forever looked down at you from a garden stair in the dark? That is what happens to Sir Paul Verdayne, an English baronet who serves in Parliament, on his last visit to Lucerne. For twenty years he has come to the lake each spring to mourn the woman he calls his Queen. This year he means to say goodbye and go home to marry Isabella Waring.
High Noon is an anonymous Edwardian romance that closes a trilogy about Paul's life.
Voor wie is het?. You will love this if you enjoy old-fashioned romance, devoted heroes and mysterious ladies, or if you like a love story with a quest, grand hotels and a rescue.
The story in 8 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
Paul's final pilgrimage begins as farewell
The story opens on an express train racing from Paris to Lucerne in springtime. Sir Paul Verdayne sits with The Times unopened beside him.
He is making a pilgrimage he has made every year for two decades. Lucerne is where the great love of his youth began, a woman he calls his Queen. He will never see her again. Each spring he returns to feel her presence near him. This year he has decided the visit will be the last. He plans to go home and marry Isabella Waring, his childhood sweetheart, and to be honest with her about his heart.
A Parisian lady who calls herself the Comtesse de Boistelle drops her handbag so that Paul will pick it up. He returns it with a bow and walks away. He is courteous, but he is closed.
The narrator keeps hinting that this calm will not last. As Paul dines alone, a woman with raven hair and pale, shining eyes watches him from a recess screened by greenery. Paul knows nothing of it.
A man who has decided to end his mourning is the man most ready to be surprised.
- 2Begin gratis met lezen
A vision, a handkerchief and a kiss in darkness
On what Paul believes is his last night in Lucerne, he sits on a bench under a great cedar to smoke a final cigar.
- 3Begin gratis met lezen
Paul rescues the lady and chases her to Langres
Too stirred to sleep, Paul paces the wet lawn and nearly walks into two people talking beneath a tree.
- 4Begin gratis met lezen
Natalie's burden and the veil in Nice
Now the narrator turns to the lady's side.
- 5Begin gratis met lezen
In Paris, love is declared and a letter warns
In Paris Paul takes rooms at a hotel, but he does not know where to search.
- 6Begin gratis met lezen
Into Russia, where hospitality hides a trap
Paul's journey east is the pilgrimage of a modern Don Quixote.
- 7Begin gratis met lezen
Love must outlast loss and defy command
Two ideas sit under the adventure.
- 8Begin gratis met lezen
How the author builds noon out of morning
The title and preface tell you how to read the story.
Read all 8 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Sir Paul Verdayne An English baronet and parliamentarian who mourns a lost love before setting out to find a mysterious Russian lady.
- Natalie Vseslavitch A proud, veiled Russian lady who guards a secret and tries to escape a marriage her sovereign has approved.
- Boris Ivanovitch Natalie's cousin and persistent suitor, a tall, smooth schemer who wants her fortune and surrounds himself with rogues.
- Peter Vseslavitch Natalie's brother, educated at Oxford, a warm host who worries for his sister.
- Baxter Paul's loyal valet, who complains about foreigners and stands by his master through every danger.
- Countess Oreshefski The kind wife of the Dalmatian ambassador, a friend to Paul and Natalie who loves to make matches.
- Madame Estelle The red-haired woman Boris calls his sister, who is tied to him and fears what he plans.
- Schwartzberger A loud American pork packer who races about in a green car and admires the Comtesse de Boistelle.
How it ends (spoiler)
Boris is thwarted when Paul breaks into the tower. Boris leaps from the window to his death, and Madame Estelle dies after saving Paul from a bullet. Natalie shows Paul a letter from his dead Queen, who was her sister. In it, the Queen asks Natalie to find and comfort him. Paul and Natalie become engaged in the moonlit garden under a blessing carved above the door.
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Vragen over High Noon
What is High Noon about?
It follows Sir Paul Verdayne, an English baronet who visits Lucerne to mourn a lost love. He meets a veiled Russian lady and follows her across Europe and into Russia, where a dangerous cousin threatens her.
Who is Natalie Vseslavitch?
Natalie is the proud Russian lady Paul pursues. She is the friend of the Countess Oreshefski, the object of her cousin Boris's proposal, and the owner of a secret she wants Paul to love her despite.
Is High Noon part of a series?
Yes. The preface calls it the third of a trilogy about Paul Verdayne. The earlier tales gave his sunrise of love and gray morning of loss, and this one gives his high noon of renewed happiness.
Who wrote High Noon and when?
The author is anonymous. The book belongs to the Edwardian period, as shown by its express trains, motor cars, embassies and grand hotels, and it is a work of fiction rather than a true story.
Is High Noon easy to read?
Its short chapters, clear scenes and warm narrator make it easy to follow. Each chapter moves to a new place or a new question, so the chase from Lucerne to Russia keeps its pace.
Verwijs naar deze uitgave
High Noon. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/high-noon.
High noon. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/high-noon
High Noon. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/high-noon.
@book{anonymous2026high,
title = {High Noon},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/high-noon}
}
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