02846cam a22003613u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000230011324500220013626400510015830000470020933600260025633700260028233800360030849000320034450000310037650801480040752016440055553400580219965300370225765300160229465300200231083000320233085600600236285600430242299900190246577154UtSlPG20260610134804.0mcr n260607r20251900utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7aen2iso639-1 4aPS1 aStirling, Adelaide14aThe girl he loved 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2025  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier1 aNew eagle series, no. 1174.  aRelease date is 2025-10-30  aDemian Katz and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (Images courtesy of the Digital Library@Villanova University.)  a"The Girl He Loved" by Adelaide Stirling is a novel written in the early 20th century. It charts a romantic drama of secret vows, pride, and social scheming, centering on Ravenel Annesley, her brother Tommy, their calculating stepmother Lady Annesley, the dashing Captain Adrian Gordon, and the cynical aristocrat Lord Levallion. Early signals point to a tale of love imperiled by class ambition and manipulation, with a vulnerable heroine forced to choose between her heart and her safety.

The opening of the story introduces Ravenel and Tommy living under Lady Annesley’s tight control at Annesley Chase. Ravenel secretly pledges herself to Captain Adrian Gordon, accepts a distinctive emerald-and-opal ring, and agrees to a clandestine wedding at Effingham before his post to India—plans overheard by the stepmother’s spying maid. The ring mysteriously disappears after Lady Annesley outfits Ravenel in white for the duchess’s garden party; Adrian fails to appear, and Lord Levallion (intrigued and oddly protective) drives the distraught girl home, later coolly announcing that Gordon has sailed, which breaks her spirit. The duchess whisks Ravenel and Tommy to London, while Lady Annesley enlists Mrs. Hester Murray to wound Ravenel with “a bit of the truth,” implying Adrian has a wife; stung into icy pride, Ravenel dazzles at the duchess’s ball, where Levallion pointedly courts her and proposes marriage as an escape from Sylvia’s power. Reeling and bent on revenge—and to secure Tommy’s future—Ravenel accepts, setting the novel’s central conflict in motion. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cNew York: Street & Smith, 1900  aAmerican fiction -- 19th century  aDime novels  aRomance fiction 0aNew eagle series, no. 1174.4 uhttps://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:119883340uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77154  c117876d117876