Story summary
Resumo de A Caixa de Rapé do Cardeal
- 7 min de leitura
- 11 parts
- Áudio em breve
A novelist hides behind a friend's name while the duchess next door reads his book and asks about its author.
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A Caixa de Rapé do Cardeal em resumo
Resumo: 7 min de leitura
- Tempo de leitura
- Cerca de 3 h 25 min2 h 40 min fast, 4 h slow
- Duração
- 48.200 palavras
- Nível na biblioteca
- Médio longer sentences, everyday words
- Primeira publicação
- 1900by Henry Harland
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). Quanto tempo leva para ler os clássicos · Atualizado
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A Caixa de Rapé do Cardeal in short
Peter Marchdale rents a villa beside a castle and finds his landlady is the woman he has loved from afar. He cannot tell her, so he hides behind talk of a friend named Wildmay. Over a summer he bridges a river, weathers a storm, nurses his old housekeeper and endures a freezing welcome.
What A Caixa de Rapé do Cardeal is about
A man sits under a willow by a green river, sipping coffee and quoting poetry, when a woman's voice calls from the far bank. She asks, in perfect English, whether the view is too much like a stage set. She is the woman he has loved for years, and she is his landlady.
The Cardinal's Snuff-Box is a light comedy of courtship by Henry Harland. Peter Marchdale, an English writer, rents a villa on the Italian lakes, and next door in a castle lives the witty, widowed Duchessa. Peter must win her without telling her what she has meant to him. You get quick talk, a gentle old cardinal who loves a joke and a pinch of snuff, and a bridge of planks.
Para quem é. You will love this if you enjoy bright dialogue, sunlit Italian scenery, gentle matchmaking and kindly humor about faith and class. Think of Jane Austen's wit moved to a lake.
The story in 11 parts
Key idea 1 · free to read
A coffee under the willow starts everything
The story opens at Villa Floriano, beside the narrow river Aco. Old Marietta, the housekeeper, asks if the Signorino would like coffee in the garden. Peter sits at a rustic table and admires the vineyards, white villas and snowy peaks.
Then a woman speaks in English from the other bank. She is tall, dressed in white, with hair that sparkles like threads of glass. Peter's heart jumps, stops and races. His wits scatter, so an automatic second self answers for him and calls the scenery only Nature, unaided. She teases him with polite eyebrows, names him Mr. Marchdale and says she is his landlady.
The narrator lets us see what Peter hides. He saw this woman before at the theater in Paris and has carried her image for years. A chance meeting can make a quiet man bold, and it can also make him very silly.
- 2Comece grátis para ler
Marietta knows everything and explains nothing
Marietta is the comic heart of the book, a small brown woman with sharp black eyes who takes Peter's playful questions literally.
- 3Comece grátis para ler
Sparrows, finches and a rescued little pig
The first real talk between Peter and the Duchessa happens over breadcrumbs.
- 4Comece grátis para ler
A novel nobody reads and two children on the road
Peter writes novels under the name Felix Wildmay, and no one reads them.
- 5Comece grátis para ler
The Cardinal arrives with a plan and the rain
The Duchessa learns that Peter is a respectable Norfolk man who writes novels under a pseudonym.
- 6Comece grátis para ler
The story of Pauline, told with the names changed
Peter crosses the bridge and stands in the grounds of Ventirose for the first time.
- 7Comece grátis para ler
A dinner, a bold Irishwoman and a cold reception
The Thursday dinner at Ventirose brings the Cardinal, a chaplain, an old French lady and a lively Irishwoman, Mrs. O'Donovan Florence.
- 8Comece grátis para ler
Marietta falls ill and the Cardinal gives a lesson
For some days Peter sulks.
- 9Comece grátis para ler
Wit as a mask for feeling
One theme is how people hide behind talk.
- 10Comece grátis para ler
Faith, rank and the quiet work of kindness
The second theme is how differences of faith and rank meet real goodness.
- 11Comece grátis para ler
How the story is told and what recurs
Harland tells the story in short chapters and lets a chatty narrator intrude.
Read all 11 key ideas now
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Characters, plot and themes
Main characters
- Peter Marchdale An English novelist who writes as Felix Wildmay, he rents Villa Floriano and hopes to win the woman he has secretly adored for years.
- Beatrice, Duchessa di Santangiolo A rich, quick-witted English-born widow who owns the castle next door and wants to be told the truth by a man who hides it.
- Cardinal Udeschini The Duchessa's gentle, joking uncle by marriage, a snuff-taking churchman who loves the poor and arranges small accidents for his niece.
- Marietta Cignolesi Peter's brown, fierce little housekeeper, called a witch by the village, who wants him fed, safe and correct in his religion.
- Emilia Manfredi The late duke's young daughter, taken in by the Duchessa, who dreams of becoming a Sister of Mercy.
- Mrs. O'Donovan Florence A lively Irish friend of the Duchessa who sees at once what both lovers hide and wants to push them together.
How it ends (spoiler)
The Duchessa tells Peter that she has known from the beginning that he is the writer Felix Wildmay. She urges him to offer his hand to the woman in his book. Peter tells her where he first saw her, at the Francais in Paris, and she lowers her eyes. When he says he is leaving for England because his love is hopeless, she looks up and tells him not to go. That evening he returns the snuffbox to the Cardinal.
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Dúvidas sobre A Caixa de Rapé do Cardeal
What is The Cardinal's Snuff-Box about?
It follows Peter Marchdale, an English novelist who rents a villa next to a castle owned by a young duchess. He secretly loves her and tries to win her without revealing how well he knows her.
Who is Felix Wildmay in The Cardinal's Snuff-Box?
Felix Wildmay is the pen name of Peter Marchdale, the hero. Peter pretends Wildmay is an old friend, and the novel A Man of Words is the book that holds his secret.
Where is The Cardinal's Snuff-Box set?
The story takes place in a lakeside Italian valley near Bergamo and Milan. It includes a rented villa, a river called the Aco, the castle of Ventirose, a village, and a view of the snowy peak Monte Sfiorito.
Is The Cardinal's Snuff-Box easy to read?
Yes, in the sense that the chapters are short, the talk is witty and quick, and the plot moves through lively scenes. A friendly narrator guides you, and the humor keeps the pages turning.
What is the snuffbox in the title?
The silver snuffbox belongs to Cardinal Udeschini, the Duchessa's uncle. It starts as a gift she gives him and then becomes a small object that passes between characters and shapes the courtship.
Cite esta edição
Harland, Henry. The Cardinal's Snuff-Box. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cardinals-snuff-box.
Harland, H. (2026). The cardinal's snuff-box. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cardinals-snuff-box (Original work published 1900)
Harland, Henry. The Cardinal's Snuff-Box. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cardinals-snuff-box.
@book{harland2026cardinals,
author = {Harland, Henry},
title = {The Cardinal's Snuff-Box},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-cardinals-snuff-box},
note = {First published 1900}
}
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