Beadle's Dime Novels No. 32

About this issue

Edward S. Ellis's serialized novel opens in New Orleans, where two men negotiate over wine. Don Alfredo Seraville, a proud Spanish Creole gentleman, and Colonel Ovaton, an American of mixed Spanish and Indian descent, discuss a proposition. Seraville is troubled by an American man's romantic involvement with his daughter Irona, recently returned from Europe. Ovaton proposes a six-month expedition into Texas under the pretense of a merchant journey, with Seraville paying two thousand dollars. The men sign agreements stipulating Ovaton's return within six months. Ovaton darkly suggests eliminating the American suitor, but Seraville, invoking honor, refuses. In Chapter II, the mysterious visitor is revealed as Irona's American lover, who has arrived to bid her farewell before his departure with Ovaton. The narrative turns on class and national tensions within the frontier setting.