A Monk of Cruta

A dying man's confession sets a chain of vengeance in motion in E. Phillips Oppenheim's "A Monk of Cruta." Martin de Vaux lies dying at a remote island monastery, attended by his servant Gomez and the priest Father Adrian. He forces the arrival, through storm-tossed seas, of two visitors summoned by his son Paul: the mysterious Count of Cruta and Paul himself. When the Count refuses Martin's dying offer of a fortune in exchange for releasing "those whom he loves" from his power, Martin shoots him dead and dies from the effort, leaving only a grieving child, later revealed as the Count's daughter, and two witnesses—Paul and Father Adrian—bound to silence. Years later in London, Paul, now master of Vaux Abbey, encounters the dancer Adrea Kiros, who turns out to be that same child, raised in secret and grown into a celebrated, dangerous beauty. Paul's younger brother Arthur becomes infatuated with and ensnared by her. Paul, drawn by guilt and desire, nearly succumbs to Adrea's advances but resists, protecting his bond with the wholesome Lady May Westover, to whom he is informally attached. Father Adrian reappears, first at Vaux Abbey investigating the family's Catholic heritage, then revealing he holds Martin's deathbed secret—withheld from formal confession, given "man to man"—and threatens to expose it and ruin the family unless Paul renounces Adrea. Adrea, for her part, nurses her own vendetta: she deliberately targets Arthur to torment Paul, while resisting Father Adrian's unexpected passionate love for her (he confesses that knowing her at Cruta destroyed his priestly vocation). Paul and Adrea are eventually drawn into an open liaison, witnessed by the enigmatic Madame de Merteuill (Adrea's guardian/relative, tied to the Cruta secret) and by Arthur, who arrives to find them together and is devastated. Society begins to gossip, costing Paul his standing with Lady May and the Westover family. Father Adrian, having given Paul a week's grace to renounce Adrea, instead comes to Vaux Abbey to disclose Martin's full confession. Martin recounts his youthful seduction and abandonment of Irene, daughter of the old Count of Cruta, after reneging on marriage; the Count's curse upon him; Irene's subsequent disappearance with a man named Count Victor Ferdinand Hirsfeld; and Martin's own return to England to rebuild his life, believing the past closed. Father Adrian also discloses that Martin arrived at Cruta gravely stabbed after a secret nocturnal visit to the castle, refusing ever to explain the assault, and paid the monastery to suppress the truth. The narrative breaks off as Martin's account resumes with an unnamed foreign visitor arriving at the Abbey years earlier, mid-sentence, leaving the remainder of the confession and the story's resolution untold.

By E. Phillips Oppenheim · First published 1904 · Genre: Adventure, Romance, Mystery · 36 chapters · 86,274 words

First lines

"Father Adrian!"

"I am here!"

What this Textopian page supports

A Monk of Cruta is listed on Textopian as a novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim, dated 1904 CE.

This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.

• Work type: Novel
• Author: E. Phillips Oppenheim
• Date: 1904 CE
• Language: English
• Genres: Adventure, Romance, Mystery, Historical
• Length: 86,274 words
• Structure: 36 chapters, 1,480 paragraphs
• Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)

Good citation fit

• Work identity for A Monk of Cruta by E. Phillips Oppenheim
• Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
• Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
• Readability and classroom-planning context
• Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph

Discussion starters

• What should a reader notice first when entering A Monk of Cruta?
• How does this novel by E. Phillips Oppenheim fit its genre, period, or classroom use?
• Where does Adventure first become important in the reading?

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Genres

• Adventure — The narrative is driven by a quest, involving physical challenges and danger.
• Romance — There are significant elements of love and relationships.
• Mystery — The plot involves the unraveling of secrets and unknown events.
• Historical — The setting and context are based in a specific historical period.

Tags

adventure · mystery · historical · fiction · romance · suspense · drama · intrigue · spirituality · medieval · quest · betrayal

Contents

• "THE BLACK-ROBED PHANTOM 'DEATH"
• "THE NEW ART"
• "THE DANCING GIRL"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "THE FAR-OFF MUTTERING OF THE STORM TO COME"
• "AN ASHEN GREY DELIGHT"
• "WHO ARE YOU, AND WHAT YOUR MISSION?"
• "I AM WEARY OF A HOPELESS LOVE"
• "AH! HOW FAIR MY WEAKNESS FINDS THEE"
• "I AM BUT A SLAVE, AND YET I BID THEE COME"
• ADREA'S DIARY
• "WE ARE LIKE SHOOTING STARS, WHOSE MEETING IS THEIR RUIN"
• "THE PATH THAT LEADS TO MADMEN'S KINGDOMS"
• "THE POISON OF HONEY FLOWERS"
• "AND MOST OF ALL WOULD I FLY FROM THE CRUEL MADNESS OF LOVE"
• "TWIXT YOU AND ME A NOISOME SHADOW CAST"
• "IF LOVE YOU CHOOSE, THEN LOVE SHALL BE YOUR RUIN"
• "SOFTLY GLIMMERING THROUGH THE LAURELS AT THE QUIET EVENFALL"
• "BLOOD CALLS ALOUD FOR BLOOD AND NOT FOR HANDS ENTWINED"
• "THE NEW, STRONG WINE OF LOVE"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "OH! HEART OF STONE, YET FLESH TO ALL SAVE ME"
• "MY LIPS ARE CHARGED WITH TRUTH, AND JUSTICE BIDS ME SPEAK"
• "THE SHATTERED VASE OF LOVE'S MOST HOLY VOWS"
• "A BECKONING VOICE FROM OUT A SHADOWY LAND"
• "LATE THOU COMEST, CRUEL THOU HAST BEEN"
• "GRIM FIGURES TRACED BY SORROW'S FIERY HAND"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "ADREA'S DIARY"
• "THE LORD OF CRUTA"
• "THE DAWN OF A SHORT, SWEET LIFE"
• "A VOICE AND FIGURE FROM THE DISTANT PAST"
• "FROM OUT LIFE'S THUNDERS TO A STRANGE, SWEET WORLD"
• "LOVE THAN DEATH ITSELF MORE STRONG"

More by E. Phillips Oppenheim

• The Cafe of Terror (1920)
• Exit a Dictator (1939)
• Murder at Monte Carlo (1933)
• The Bird of Paradise (1936)
• The Spy Paramount (1935)
• The Great Impersonation (1920)
• Berenice (1911)
• The Strange Boarders of Palace Crescent (1934)
• All works by E. Phillips Oppenheim