Frankenstein

related during the day. If I should be engaged, I will at least make
notes. This manuscript will doubtless afford you the greatest pleasure:
but to me, who know him, and who hear it from his own lips, with what
interest and sympathy shall I read it in some future day! Even now, as I
commence my task, his full-toned voice swells in my ears; his lustrous
eyes dwell on me with all their melancholy sweetness; I see his thin
hand raised in animation, while the lineaments of his face are
irradiated by the soul within. Strange and harrowing must be his story;
frightful the storm which embraced the gallant vessel on its course, and
wrecked it--thus!




CHAPTER I.


I am by birth a Genevese; and my family is one of the most distinguished
of that republic. My ancestors had been for many years counsellors and
syndics; and my father had filled several public situations with honour
and reputation. He was respected by all who knew him, for his integrity
and indefatigable attention to public business. He passed his younger
days perpetually occupied by the affairs of his country; a variety of
circumstances had prevented his marrying early, nor was it until the
decline of life that he became a husband and the father of a family.