The Lifted Veilby George Eliot [Mary Anne Evans]CHAPTER IThe time of my end approaches. I have lately been subject toattacks of angina pectoris; and in the ordinary course of things,my physician tells me, I may fairly hope that my life will not beprotracted many months. Unless, then, I am cursed with anexceptional physical constitution, as I am cursed with anexceptional mental character, I shall not much longer groan underthe wearisome burthen of this earthly existence. If it were to beotherwiseif I were to live on to the age most men desire andprovide forI should for once have known whether the miseries ofdelusive expectation can outweigh the miseries of true provision....
The Scouts of the Valleyby Joseph A. AltshelerCHAPTER ITHE LONE CANOEA light canoe of bark, containing a single human figure, moved swiftly up one of the twin streams that form the Ohio. The water, clear and deep, coming through rocky soil, babbled gently at the edges, where it lapped the land, but in the center the full current flowed steadily and without noise.The thin shadows of early dusk were falling, casting a pallid tint over the world, a tint touched here and there with living fire from the sun, which was gone, though leaving burning embers behind. One glowing shaft, piercing straight through the heavy forest that clothed either bank, fell directly upon the figure in the boat, as
Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange ThingsBy Lafcadio HearnA Note On Japanese PronunciationAlthough simplified, the following general rules will help the readerunfamiliar with Japanese to come close enough to Japanese pronunciation.There are five vowels: a (as in fAther), i (as in machIne), u (as infOOl), e (as in fEllow), and o (as in mOle). Although certain vowels becomenearly "silent" in some environments, this phenomenon can be safely ignoredfor the purpose at hand.Consonants roughly approximate their corresponding sounds in English,except for r, which is actually somewhere between r and l (this is why the...
THE RATCATCHERA VERY long time ago the town of Hamel in Germany wasinvaded by bands of rats, the like of which had never been seenbefore nor will ever be again.They were great black creatures that ran boldly in broaddaylight through the streets, and swarmed so, all over the houses, thatpeople at last could not put their hand or foot down anywhere withouttouching one. When dressing in the morning they found themin their breeches and petticoats, in their pockets and in their boots;and when they wanted a morsel to eat, the voracious horde hadswept away everything from cellar to garret. The night was evenworse. As soon as the lights were out, these untiring nibblers set...
SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE SOLITARY CYCLISTby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleFrom the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was avery busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case ofany difficulty in which he was not consulted during those eight years,and there were hundreds of private cases, some of them of the mostintricate and extraordinary character, in which he played aprominent part. Many startling successes and a few unavoidablefailures were the outcome of this long period of continuous work. As Ihave preserved very full notes of all these cases, and was myself...
The Law and the Ladyby Wilkie CollinsNOTE:ADDRESSED TO THE READER.IN offering this book to you, I have no Preface to write. I haveonly to request that you will bear in mind certain establishedtruths, which occasionally escape your memory when you arereading a work of fiction. Be pleased, then, to remember (First):That the actions of human beings are not invariably governed bythe laws of pure reason. (Secondly): That we are by no meansalways in the habit of bestowing our love on the objects whichare the most deserving of it, in the opinions of our friends.(Thirdly and Lastly): That Characters which may not haveappeared, and Events which may not have taken place, within the...
Chapter 1The great fish moved silently through the night water, propelled by short sweeps of its crescent tail. The mouth was open just enough to permit a rush of water over the gills. There was little other motion: an occasional correction of the apparently aimless course by the slight raising or lowering of a pectoral fin - as a bird changes direction by dipping one wing and lifting the other. The eyes were sightless in the black, and the other senses transmitted nothing extraordinary to the small, primitive brain. The fish might have been asleep, save for the movement dictated by countless millions of years of instinctive continuity: lacking the flotation bladder mon to other fish and th
The Diary of a Goose Girlby Kate Douglas WigginTHORNYCROFT FARM, near Barbury Green, July 1, 190-.In alluding to myself as a Goose Girl, I am using only the mostmodest of my titles; for I am also a poultry-maid, a tender ofBelgian hares and rabbits, and a shepherdess; but I particularlyfancy the role of Goose Girl, because it recalls the German fairytales of my early youth, when I always yearned, but never hoped, tobe precisely what I now am.As I was jolting along these charming Sussex roads the other day, afat buff pony and a tippy cart being my manner of progression, Ichanced upon the village of Barbury Green.One glance was enough for any woman, who, having eyes to see, could...
THE TWIN HELLSTHE TWIN HELLSBY JOHN N. REYNOLDS ATCHISON, KANSAS.1- Page 2-THE TWIN HELLSTO MY DEAR OLD MOTHER AND TO THE MEMORY OF MYSAINTED WIFE THIS BOOK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BYTHE AUTHOR.2- Page 3-THE TWIN HELLSPREFACEThe following pages treat of hellA Kansas hell and a Missouri hell.Those who desire to peruse works that tell about Heaven only, are urged to...
To Him That Hathby Ralph ConnorA NOVEL OF THE WEST OF TODAYCONTENTSCHAPTERI THE GAMEII THE COST OF SACRIFICEIII THE HEATHEN QUESTIV ANNETTEV THE RECTORYVI THE GRIEVANCE COMMITTEEVII THE FOREMANVIII FREE SPEECHIX THE DAY BEFOREX THE NIGHT OF VICTORYXI THE NEW MANAGERXII LIGHT THAT IS DARKNESSXIII THE STRIKEXIV GATHERING CLOUDSXV THE STORMXVI A GALLANT FIGHTXVII SHALL BE GIVENTO HIM THAT HATHCHAPTER ITHE GAME"Forty-Love.""Game! and Set. Six to two."A ripple of cheers ran round the court, followed by a buzz ofexcited conversation....
IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSIN THE CARQUINEZWOODSby Bret Harte1- Page 2-IN THE CARQUINEZ WOODSCHAPTER I.The sun was going down on the Carquinez Woods. The few shaftsof sunlight that had pierced their pillared gloom were lost in unfathomabledepths, or splintered their ineffectual lances on the enormous trunks of theredwoods. For a time the dull red of their vast columns, and the dull redof their cast-off bark which matted the echoless aisles, still seemed to hold...
Part 8My poor afflicted governess was now as much concerned asI, and a great deal more truly penitent, though she had noprospect of being brought to trial and sentence. Not but thatshe deserved it as much as I, and so she said herself; but shehad not done anything herself for many years, other thanreceiving what I and others stole, and encouraging us to stealit. But she cried, and took on like a distracted body, wringingher hands, and crying out that she was undone, that shebelieved there was a curse from heaven upon her, that sheshould be damned, that she had been the destruction of all herfriends, that she had brought such a one, and such a one, and...