BEAUTY AND THE BEASTONCE upon a time, in a very far-off country, therelived a merchant who had been so fortunate in all hisundertakings that he was enormously rich. As he had,however, six sons and six daughters, he found that hismoney was not too much to let them all have everythingthey fancied, as they were accustomed to do.But one day a most unexpected misfortune befell them.Their house caught fire and was speedily burnt to theground, with all the splendid furniture, the books, pic-tures, gold, silver, and precious goods it contained; andthis was only the beginning of their troubles. Theirfather, who had until this moment prospered in all ways,...　

The Nabobby Alphonse DaudetTranslated by W. BlaydesINTRODUCTIONDaudet once remarked that England was the last of foreign countries to welcome his novels, and that he was surprised at the fact, since for him, as for the typical Englishman, the intimacy of home life had great significance. However long he may have taken to win Anglo-Saxon hearts, there is no question that he finally won them more completely than any other contemporary French novelist was able to do, and that when but a few years since the news came that death had released him from his sufferings, thousands of men and women, both in England and in America, felt that they had lost a real friend. Just at the present moment one d　

Bird Neighborsby Neltje Blanchan DoubledayBIRD NEIGHBORS. An Introductory Acquaintance With One Hundred and Fifty BirdsCommonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our HomesBy NELTJE BLANCHANINTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURROUGHS1897, 1904, 1922TABLE OF CONTENTSINTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURROUGHSPREFACEI. BIRD FAMILIES: Their Characteristics and theRepresentatives of Each Family included in "BirdNeighbors"II. HABITATS OF BIRDSIII. SEASONS OF BIRDSIV. BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZEV. DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLORBirds Conspicuously BlackBirds Conspicuously Black and WhiteDusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Birds...　

The Past Condition of Organic Natureby Thomas H. HuxleyIN the lecture which I delivered last Monday evening, I endeavoured tosketch in a very brief manner, but as well as the time at my disposalwould permit, the present condition of organic nature, meaning by thatlarge title simply an indication of the great, broad, and generalprinciples which are to be discovered by those who look attentively atthe phenomena of organic nature as at present displayed. The generalresult of our investigations might be summed up thus: we found that themultiplicity of the forms of animal life, great as that may be, may bereduced to a comparatively few primitive plans or types of construction;...　

A PRINCESS OF MARSby Edgar Rice BurroughsCHAPTER ION THE ARIZONA HILLSI am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I ama hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell because I havenever aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood.So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a manof about thirty. I appear today as I did forty years andmore ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;that some day I shall die the real death from which there isno resurrection. I do not know why I should fear death,I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have thesame horror of it as you who have never died, and it is...　

The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprenticesby Charles DickensCHAPTER IIn the autumn month of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven,wherein these presents bear date, two idle apprentices, exhaustedby the long, hot summer, and the long, hot work it had brought withit, ran away from their employer. They were bound to a highlymeritorious lady (named Literature), of fair credit and repute,though, it must be acknowledged, not quite so highly esteemed inthe City as she might be. This is the more remarkable, as there isnothing against the respectable lady in that quarter, but quite thecontrary; her family having rendered eminent service to many famous...　

CYRANO DE BERGERACCYRANO DEBERGERACA Play in Five ActsBy Edmond Rostand1- Page 2-CYRANO DE BERGERACThe CharactersCYRANO DE BERGERAC CHRISTIAN DE NEUVILLETTECOUNT DE GUICHE RAGUENEAU LE BRET CARBON DECASTEL-JALOUX THE CADETS LIGNIERE DE VALVERT AMARQUIS SECOND MARQUIS THIRD MARQUIS MONTFLEURYBELLEROSE JODELET CUIGY BRISSAILLE THE DOORKEEPER ALACKEY A SECOND LACKEY A BORE A MUSKETEER ANOTHER...　

　dedicates this book to　Barry and Jody Turkus.　　Lincoln Child　dedicates this book to　his daughter, Veronica.　　Acknowledgments　　Lincoln Child would like to thank Bruce Swanson, Mark Mendel, Pat Allocco, Chris and Susan Yango, Jerry and Terry Hyland, Anthony Cifelli, M.D., Norman San Agustin, M.D., and Lee Suckno, M.D., for their friendship and assistance. Ongoing thanks to Special Agent Douglas Margini for his advice on New York, New Jersey, and federal law enforcement matters. Thanks to Jill Nowak for an insightful reading of the text. Bob Przybylski was very useful in nailing down some of the firearms details. Thanks also to Monsignor Bob Diacheck for reading and menting on the manuscript.　

　　 In the Court of the Fountain the sun of March shone through young leaves of ash and elm, and water leapt and fell through shadow and clear light. About that roofless court stood four high walls of stone. Behind those were rooms and courts, passages, corridors, towers, and at last the heavy outmost walls of the Great House of Roke, which would stand any assault of war or earthquake or the sea itself, being built not only of stone, but of incontestable magic. For Roke is the Isle of the Wise, where the art magic is taught; and the Great House is the school and central place of wizardry; and the central place of the House is that small court far within the walls, where the fountain plays an　

　1　 With a gentle sigh the service tube dropped a message capsule into the receiving cup. The attention bell chimed once and was silent. Jason dinAlt stared at the harmless capsule as though it were a ticking bomb.　 Something was going wrong. He felt a hard knot of tension form inside of him. This was no routine service memo or hotel munication, but a sealed personal message. Yet he knew no one on this planet, having arrived by spacer less than eight hours earlier. Since even his name was new-dating back to the last time he had changed ships- there could be no personal messages. Yet here one was.　 Stripping the seal with his thumbnail, he took the top off. The recorder in the pencil-sized c　

shall lie across the Pattern of the Age, and the Dark One shall once more layhis hand upon the world of man. Women shall weep and men quail as the nations ofthe earth are rent like rotting cloth. Neither shall anything stand nor abide...Yet one shall be born to face the Shadow, born once more as he was born beforeand shall be born again, time without end. The Dragon shall be Reborn, and thereshall be wailing and gnashing of teeth at his rebirth. In sackcloth and ashesshall he clothe the people, and he shall break the world again by his ing,tearing apart all ties that bind. Like the unfettered dawn shall he blind us,and burn us, yet shall the Dragon Reborn confront the Shadow at the Last Bat　

I stood in line, as patient as the other taxpayers, my filled out forms and my cash gripped body in my hand. Cash, money, the old fashioned green folding stuff. A local custom that I intended to make expensive to the local customers. I was scratching under the artificial beard, which itched abominably, when the man before me stepped out of the way and I was at the window. My finger stuck in the glue and I had a job freeing it without pulling the beard off as well."e, e, pass it over," the aging, hatchet-faced, bitter and shrewish female official said, hand extended impatiently."On the contrary," I said, letting the papers and banknotes fall away to disclose the immense .75 recoilless pistol