"La chasse au météore" by Jules Verne is a novel written in the early 20th century. Set in a small American town, it blends light social comedy with scientific intrigue as a dazzling meteor sparks rivalry between two amateur astronomers while love stories unfold around them. The key figures include Judge John Proth, the impetuous travelers Seth Stanfort and Arcadia Walker, and the Whaston families of Dean Forsyth and Dr. Sydney Hudelson,
whose friendly competition threatens to flare into a feud. Expect a tale where celestial discovery collides with civic curiosity, romance, and pride. The opening of the story first stages a brisk, humorous scene in Whaston, Virginia: the punctual Seth Stanfort waits on horseback in Constitution Square, greets the equally spirited Arcadia Walker at the last minute, and—helped by the unflappable Judge John Proth—marries her on the spot without dismounting. It then shifts to the household of Dean Forsyth, an irritable but passionate stargazer aided by his small aide Omicron and his plain‑spoken servant Mitz; Forsyth and Omicron claim to have glimpsed a fast north–south bolide days earlier, but clouds and bad luck thwart confirmation. A parallel portrait introduces Dr. Sydney Hudelson—Forsyth’s friend and rival—his serene wife Flora, their daughters Jenny and lively Loo, and Jenny’s fiancé, the lawyer Francis Gordon; despite the men’s simmering rivalry, the families fix the wedding date and the young couple choose a house with a terrace view over Whaston. Both Forsyth and Hudelson rush to secure priority by writing observatories in Pittsburg and Cincinnati, but for now they receive only acknowledgments, keep scanning the sky, and grow more anxious as everyday wedding preparations advance and the meteor refuses to reappear. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Claudine Corbasson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica))
