Brace yourself for a swashbuckling tale of high adventure from the author of the classic The Prisoner of Zenda. Similar in many respects to Hope's best-known novel, The Chronicles of Count Antonio follows the exploits of the dashing, daring count who is on the run from a faction out to destroy him-and who finds romance in the unlikeliest of circumstances.

Excerpt from The Chronicles of Count Antonio But Antonio's face went red from brow to chin, as he answered My gracious lord, I love the lady, and she me, and neither can wed an other. As for my Lord Robert, your Highness knows well that she loves him not. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Mr. Anthony Hope is finding out his enviable position. Do what he will, he has the power to please most people. Whatever be his moods, and whatever the quality of his performance, he is never awkward, and elegance of form in any literary matter popularly interesting is so uncommon that gratitude and admiration are widespread and intense in proportion. Now that he is finding this out, it is not surprising that he should take advantage of it, and give pleasure to his numerous admirers as frequently and with as little trouble to himself as possible. It is impertinent to pry into the state of Mr. Hope's soul to see if it is growing demoralised by easy triumphs, but it is quite justifiable to say that a little more effort than is to be found in this book is wanted to keep to the estimate which some sincere but discreet admirers have formed of his powers. The stories here are entertaining, and the youth of fourteen who should disapprove of them would do so from mere dulness. But there are features in it that would lead one to believe they were not written for lads in their early teens. Yet it is not exactly a book for men and women, to whom the tales, excellent in imagining as many of them are, must be spoilt by the artificiality of the mechanism, and the conventionality of all the motives, feelings, and expressions, of the human

Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was a florid, popular writer of his day, who coined such phrases as "the great unwashed," and "the pen is mightier than the sword."