Ali PachaBy Alexander Dumas, pereCHAPTER IThe beginning of the nineteenth century was a time of audacious enterprises and strange vicissitudes of fortune. Whilst Western Europe in turn submitted and struggled against a sub-lieutenant who made himself an emperor, who at his pleasure made kings and destroyed kingdoms, the ancient eastern part of the Continent; like mummies which preserve but the semblance of life, was gradually tumbling to pieces, and getting parcelled out amongst bold adventurers who skirmished over its ruins. Without mentioning local revolts which produced only short-lived struggles and trifling changes, of administration, such as that of Djezzar Pacha, who refused to pay　

Edingburgh Picturesque Notesby Robert Louis StevensonCHAPTER I.INTRODUCTORY.THE ancient and famous metropolis of the North sitsoverlooking a windy estuary from the slope and summit ofthree hills. No situation could be more commanding forthe head city of a kingdom; none better chosen for nobleprospects. From her tall precipice and terraced gardensshe looks far and wide on the sea and broad champaigns.To the east you may catch at sunset the spark of the Maylighthouse, where the Firth expands into the GermanOcean; and away to the west, over all the carse ofStirling, you can see the first snows upon Ben Ledi....　

Confessio AmantisorTales of the Seven Deadly SinsBy John Gower, 1330-1408 A.D.PrologusTorpor, ebes sensus, scola parua labor minimusqueCausant quo minimus ipse minora canam:Qua tamen Engisti lingua canit Insula BrutiAnglica Carmente metra iuuante loquar.Ossibus ergo carens que conterit ossa loquelisAbsit, et interpres stet procul oro malus.Of hem that writen ous toforeThe bokes duelle, and we therforeBen tawht of that was write tho:Forthi good is that we alsoIn oure tyme among ous hiereDo wryte of newe som matiere,Essampled of these olde wyseSo that it myhte in such a wyse,Whan we ben dede and elleswhere,Beleve to the worldes eere 10...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE BLANCHED SOLDIERby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe ideas of my friend Watson, though limited, are exceedinglypertinacious. For a long time he has worried me to write an experienceof my own. Perhaps I have rather invited this persecution, since Ihave often had occasion to point out to him how superficial are hisown accounts and to accuse him of pandering to popular taste insteadof confining himself rigidly to facts and figures. "Try it yourself,Holmes!" he has retorted, and I am compelled to admit that, havingtaken my pen in my hand, I do begin to realize that the matter must be...　

A Face Illuminedby E. P. RoePrefaceAs may be gathered from the following pages, my title was obtaineda number of years ago, and the story has since been taking formand color in my mind. What has become of the beautiful but discordantface I saw at the concert garden I do not know, but I trust thatthe countenance it suggested, and its changes may not proveso vague and unsatisfactory as to be indistinct to the reader. Ithas looked upon the writer during the past year almost like the faceof a living maiden, and I have felt, in a way that would be hardto explain, that I have had but little to do with its expressions,...　

The Secret Sharerby Joseph ConradIOn my right hand there were lines of fishing stakes resemblinga mysterious system of half-submerged bamboo fences,incomprehensible in its division of the domain of tropical fishes,and crazy of aspect as if abandoned forever by some nomadtribe of fishermen now gone to the other end of the ocean;for there was no sign of human habitation as far as the eyecould reach. To the left a group of barren islets,suggesting ruins of stone walls, towers, and blockhouses,had its foundations set in a blue sea that itself looked solid,so still and stable did it lie below my feet; even the trackof light from the westering sun shone smoothly, without that...　

Dorothy and the Wizard in Ozby L. Frank BaumA Faithful Record of Their Amazing Adventuresin an Underground World; and How with theAid of Their Friends Zeb Hugson, Eurekathe Kitten, and Jim the Cab-Horse,They Finally Reached theWonderful Landof Ozby L. Frank Baum"Royal Historian of Oz"To My Readers1. The Earthquake2. The Glass City3. The Arrival of the Wizard4. The Vegetable Kingdom5. Dorothy Picks the Princess6. The Mangaboos Prove Dangerous7. Into the Black Pit and Out Again8. The Valley of Voices9. They Fight the Invisible Bears...　

THE FROZEN DEEPby Wilkie CollinsFirst SceneThe Ball-roomChapter 1.The date is between twenty and thirty years ago. The place is anEnglish sea-port. The time is night. And the business of themoment isdancing.The Mayor and Corporation of the town are giving a grand ball, incelebration of the departure of an Arctic expedition from theirport. The ships of the expedition are two in numberthe_Wanderer_ and the _Sea-mew_. They are to sail (in search of theNorthwest Passage) on the next day, with the morning tide.Honor to the Mayor and Corporation! It is a brilliant ball. Theband is complete. The room is spacious. The large conservatoryopening out of it is pleasantly lighted with Chinese lanterns,.　

A Waif of the Plainsby Bret HarteCHAPTER IA long level of dull gray that further away became a faint blue,with here and there darker patches that looked like water. Attimes an open space, blackened and burnt in an irregular circle,with a shred of newspaper, an old rag, or broken tin can lying inthe ashes. Beyond these always a low dark line that seemed to sinkinto the ground at night, and rose again in the morning with thefirst light, but never otherwise changed its height and distance.A sense of always moving with some indefinite purpose, but ofalways returning at night to the same placewith the samesurroundings, the same people, the same bedclothes, and the same...　

The Confessions of a Summer Colonistby William Dean HowellsThe season is ending in the little summer settlement on the Down Eastcoast where I have been passing the last three months, and with eachloath day the sense of its peculiar charm grows more poignant.A prescience of the homesickness I shall feel for it when I go alreadybegins to torment me, and I find myself wishing to imagine some form ofwords which shall keep a likeness of it at least through the winter; someshadowy semblance which I may turn to hereafter if any chance or changeshould destroy or transform it, or, what is more likely, if I shouldnever come back to it. Perhaps others in the distant future may turn to...　

FIRST EPILOGUE: 1813 - 20CHAPTER ISeven years had passed. The storm-tossed sea of European history hadsubsided within its shores and seemed to have become calm. But themysterious forces that move humanity (mysterious because the laws oftheir motion are unknown to us) continued to operate.Though the surface of the sea of history seemed motionless, themovement of humanity went on as unceasingly as the flow of time.Various groups of people formed and dissolved, the coming formationand dissolution of kingdoms and displacement of peoples was incourse of preparation.The sea of history was not driven spasmodically from shore to...　

The New Machiavelliby H. G. Wells [Herbert George Wells]CONTENTSBOOK THE FIRSTTHE MAKING OF A MANI. CONCERNING A BOOK THAT WAS NEVER WRITTENII. BROMSTEAD AND MY FATHERIII. SCHOLASTICIV. ADOLESCENCEBOOK THE SECONDMARGARETI. MARGARET IN STAFFORDSHIREII. MARGARET IN LONDONIII. MARGARET IN VENICEIV. THE HOUSE IN WESTMINSTERBOOK THE THIRDTHE HEART OF POLITICSI. THE RIDDLE FOR THE STATESMANII. SEEKING ASSOCIATESIII. SECESSIONIV. THE BESETTING OF SEXBOOK THE FOURTHISABELI. LOVE AND SUCCESSII. THE IMPOSSIBLE POSITION...