SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE VEILED LODGERby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleWhen one considers that Mr. Sherlock Holmes was in active practicefor twenty-three years, and that during seventeen of these I wasallowed to cooperate with him and to keep notes of his doings, it willbe clear that I have a mass of material at my command. The problem hasalways been not to find but to choose. There is the long row ofyear-books which fill a shelf, and there are the dispatch-cases filledwith documents, a perfect quarry for the student not only of crime but...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PEA BLOSSOMby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shellwas green, and so they believed that the whole world must be greenalso, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and thepeas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat allin a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rainmade it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broaddaylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas as...　

The White Mr. Longfellowby William Dean HowellsWe had expected to stay in Boston only until we could find a house in OldCambridge. This was not so simple a matter as it might seem; for theancient town had not yet quickened its scholarly pace to the modern step.Indeed, in the spring of 1866 the impulse of expansion was not yetvisibly felt anywhere; the enormous material growth that followed thecivil war had not yet begun. In Cambridge the houses to be let were few,and such as there were fell either below our pride or rose above ourpurse. I wish I might tell how at last we bought a house; we　

LITTLE NOVELSby Wilkie CollinsMRS. ZANT AND THE GHOST.I.THE course of this narrative describes the return of a disembodied spirit to earth, and leads the reader on new and strange ground.Not in the obscurity of midnight, but in the searching light of day, did the supernatural influence assert itself. Neither revealed by a vision, nor announced by a voice, it reached mortal knowledge through the sense which is least easily self-deceived: the sense that feels.The record of this event will of necessity produce conflicting impressions. It will raise, in some minds, the doubt which reason asserts;　

　IT BEGINS IN DARKNESS　　Effigies of the Earth King festooned the city around Castle Sylvarresta. Everywhere the effigies could be seenhanging beneath shopwindows, standing upright against the walls of the city gates, or nailed beside doorwaysstationed any place where the Earth King might find ingress into a home.　Many of the figures were crude things crafted by childrena few reeds twisted into the form of a man, often with a crown of oak leaves in its hair. But outside the doors of shops and taverns were more ornate figures of wood, the full size of a man, often elaborately painted and coifed　

　Clinch padded to the kitchen and fixed himself a pot of coffee, four eggs scrambled (with ketchup), a quarter-pound of Jimmy Dean sausage, and two slices of whole-wheat toast with grape jam. As he ate, he listened to the radio for a weather report. The temperature outside was forty-one degrees, humidity thirty-five percent, wind blowing from the northeast at seven miles per hour. According to the weatherman, thick fog lay on the highway between Harney and Lake Jesup. Robert Clinch loved to drive in the fog because it gave him a chance to use the amber fog lights on his new Blazer truck. The 　

　CHAPTER ONE　　It was a very fast killing.　Touch the needle to the left arm. Press your thumb in between the left bicep and the tricep to pump up the vein. Ah, there it is. Clear the air from the syringe. Then in. Full. Slowly push the plunger all the way.　Done.　. Remove the needle and let him collapse back again beside the chess table where he had fallen moments before. His head cracked on the polished parquet floor, and the killer could not help wincing, even though a man with a splendid overdose of heroin needs no sympathy.　"You know, my dear," said the man with the needle. "Some people pay　

　"Now thou art e unto a feast of death."　William Shakespeare Henry VI, Part I, Act 4, Scene 5.　　　　PART ONE　January 1812　　CHAPTER 1　　A pale horse seen a mile away at sunrise means the night is over. Sentries can relax, battalions stand down, because the moment for a surprise dawn attack has passed.　　But not on this day. A grey horse would hardly have been visible at a hundred paces, let alone a mile, and the dawn was shredded with dirty cannon smoke that melded with the snow-clouds. Only one living thing moved in the grey space between the British and French lines; a small, dark bird that hopp　

The Pathfinder, or, The Inland Seaby James Fenimore CooperPREFACEThe plan of this tale suggested itself to the writer manyyears since, though the details are altogether of recent in-vention. The idea of associating seamen and savages inincidents that might be supposed characteristic of theGreat Lakes having been mentioned to a Publisher, thelatter obtained something like a pledge from the Authorto carry out the design at some future day, which pledgeis now tardily and imperfectly redeemed.The reader may recognize an old friend under new cir-cumstances in the principal character of this legen　

A Far CountryBy Winston ChurchillI.My name is Hugh Paret. I was a corporation lawyer, but by no means atypical one, the choice of my profession being merely incidental, anddue, as will be seen, to the accident of environment. The book I amabout to write might aptly be called The Autobiography of a Romanticist.In that sense, if in no other, I have been a typical American, regardingmy country as the happy hunting-ground of enlightened self-interest, as afunction of my desires. Whether or not I have completely got rid of thisromantic virus I must leave to those the aim of whose existence is t　

PREFACE TO THE FIRST CHEAP EDITION OF "AMERICAN NOTES"IT is nearly eight years since this book was first published. Ipresent it, unaltered, in the Cheap Edition; and such of myopinions as it expresses, are quite unaltered too.My readers have opportunities of judging for themselves whether theinfluences and tendencies which I distrust in America, have anyexistence not in my imagination. They can examine for themselveswhether there has been anything in the public career of thatcountry during these past eight years, or whether there is anything...　

PROPHETS AND KINGSby ELLEN G.WHITEProphets and Kings(9)FOREWORDTHE STORY Of PROPHETS AND KINGS IS THE SECOND IN A SERIES OF FIVE OUTSTANDING VOLUMES SPANNING SACRED HISTORY. IT WAS, HOWEVER, THE LAST BOOK OF THE SERIES TO BE WRITTEN, AND THE LAST OF MANY RICH WORKS TO COME FROM THE GIFTED PEN OF ELLEN G. WHITE. THROUGH HER SEVENTY YEARS OF SPEAKING AND WRITING IN AMERICA AND ABROAD, MRS. WHITE EVER KEPT BEFORE THE PUBLIC THE LARGER SIGNIFICANCE OF THE EVENTS OF HISTORY, REVEALING THAT IN THE AFFAIRS OF MEN ARE TO BE DETECTED THE UNSEEN INFLUENCES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND EVILTHE HAND OF GOD AND T　

THE COMPARISON OF NUMA WITH LYCURGUSby Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenHAVING thus finished the lives of Lycurgus and Numa, we shall now,though the work be difficult, put together their points ofdifference as they lie here before our view. Their points oflikeness are obvious; their moderation, their religion, their capacityof government and discipline, their both deriving their laws andconstitutions from the gods. Yet in their common glories there arecircumstances of diversity; for first Numa accepted and Lycurgus...　

The Expedition of Humphry Clinkerby Tobias SmollettTo Mr HENRY DAVIS, Bookseller, in London.ABERGAVENNY, Aug. 4.RESPECTED SIR,I have received your esteemed favour of the 13th ultimo, wherebyit appeareth, that you have perused those same Letters, the whichwere delivered unto you by my friend, the reverend Mr Hugo Behn;and I am pleased to find you think they may be printed with agood prospect of success; in as much as the objections youmention, I humbly conceive, are such as may be redargued, if notentirely removed And, first, in the first place, as touching...　

The White Peopleby Frances Hodgson BurnettTO LIONEL "The stars come nightly to the sky; The tidal wave unto the sea; Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high Can keep my own away from me."THE WHITE PEOPLECHAPTER IPerhaps the things which happened could only have happened to me. I do not know. I never heard of things like them happening to any one else. But I am not sorry they did happen. I am in secret deeply and strangely glad. I have heard other people say thingsand they were not always sad people, eitherwhich made me feel that if they knew what I know it would seem to them as though so　

BeowulfAnonymousTranlated by GummereBEOWULFPRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSELO, praise of the prowess of people-kingsof spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,awing the earls. Since erst he layfriendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,till before him the folk, both far and near,who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,gave him gifts: a good king he!...