The red sun balances on the highest ramparts of the mountains, and in its waning light, the foothills appear to be ablaze. A cool breeze blows down out of the sun and fans through the tall dry grass, which streams like waves of golden fire along the slopes toward the rich and shadowed valley. In the knee-high grass, he stands with his hands in the pockets of his denim jacket, studying the vineyards below. The vines were pruned during the winter. The new growing season has just begun. The colorful wild mustard that flourished between the rows during the colder months has been chopped back and
IT WAS nothing out of the ordinary that Mrs. Barry Rackham had made the appointment with her finger pressed to her lips. That is by no means an unusual gesture for people who find themselves in a situation where the best thing they can think of is to make arrangements to see Nero Wolfe. With Mrs. Barry Rackham the shushing finger was only figurative, since she made the date speaking to me on the phone. It was in her voice, low and jerky, and also in the way she kept telling me how confidential it was, even after I solemnly assured her that we rarely notified the press when someone requeste
Majorie Dawby Thomas Bailey AldrichI.DR. DILLON TO EDWARD DELANEY, ESQ., AT THE PINES.NEAR RYE, N.H.August 8, 1872.My Dear Sir: I am happy to assure you that your anxiety is withoutreason. Flemming will be confined to the sofa for three or fourweeks, and will have to be careful at first how he uses his leg. Afracture of this kind is always a tedious affair. Fortunately thebone was very skilfully set by the surgeon who chanced to be in thedrugstore where Flemming was brought after his fall, and Iapprehend no permanent inconvenience from the accident. Flemming is...
THE CYCLOPSby Euripidestranslated by E. P. ColeridgeCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYSILENUS, old servant of the CYCLOPSCHORUS OF SATYRSODYSSEUSTHE CYCLOPSCompanions Of ODYSSEUS(SCENE:-Before the great cave of the CYCLOPS at the foot of MountAetna. SILENUS enters. He has a rake with him, with which he cleans upthe ground in front of the cave as he soliloquizes.)SILENUSO BROMIUS, unnumbered are the toils I bear because of thee, noless now than when I was young and hale; first, when thou wert...
Redgauntletby Sir Walter ScottCONTENTS.Introduction Text Letters I - XIII Chapters I - XXIII Conclusion Notes GlossaryINTRODUCTIONThe Jacobite enthusiasm of the eighteenth century, particularly during the rebellion of 1745, afforded a theme, perhaps the finest that could be selected for fictitious composition, founded upon real or probable incident. This civil war and its remarkable events were remembered by the existing generation without any degree of the bitterness of spirit which seldom fails to attend internal dissension. The Highlanders, who formed the principal strength o
A Question of Latitudeby Richard Harding DavisOf the school of earnest young writers at whom the word muckrakerhad been thrown in opprobrium, and by whom it had been caught up asa title of honor, Everett was among the younger and lessconspicuous. But, if in his skirmishes with graft and corruptionhe had failed to correct the evils he attacked, from the contestshe himself had always emerged with credit. His sincerity and hismethods were above suspicion. No one had caught him inmisstatement, or exaggeration. Even those whom he attacked,admitted he fought fair. For these reasons, the editor
The Chaperonby Henry JamesCHAPTER I.An old lady, in a high drawing-room, had had her chair moved close tothe fire, where she sat knitting and warming her knees. She wasdressed in deep mourning; her face had a faded nobleness, tempered,however, by the somewhat illiberal compression assumed by her lips inobedience to something that was passing in her mind. She was farfrom the lamp, but though her eyes were fixed upon her active needlesshe was not looking at them. What she really saw was quite anothertrain of affairs. The room was spacious and dim; the thick London...
Douglas Preston dedicates this book to Stuart Woods. Acknowledgments Lincoln Child wishes to thank Bruce Swanson, Bry Benjamin, M.D., Lee Suckno, M.D., Irene Soderlund, Mary Ellen Mix, Bob Wincott, Sergio and Mila Nepomuceno, Jim Cush, Chris Yango, Jim Jenkins, Mark Mendel, Juliette Kvernland, Hartley Clark, and Denis Kelly, for their friendship and their assistance, both technical and otherwise. Thanks also to my wife, Luchie, for her love and unstinting support. And I would especially like to acknowledge as an inspiration my grandmother Nora Kubie. Artist, novelist, archaeologist, indepen
This darkness troubles me. I yearn for the light. This silence is so deep. I long for voices, the drumming of rain, the whistle of wind, music. Why are you being so cruel to me? Let me see. Let me hear. Let me live. I beg of you. I am so lonely in this bottomless darkness. So lonely. Lost. You think I have no heart. But if I have no heart, what is this ache? What is this anguish? If I have no heart, what is it that threatens to break inside me? This darkness is haunted. I am afraid here. I am lost and afraid here. Have you no passion? I only wanted to be like you. To walk in the su
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PRINCESS AND THE PEAby Hans Christian AndersenONCE upon a time there was a prince who wanted to marry aprincess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled allover the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted.There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whetherthey were real ones. There was always something about them that wasnot as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he wouldhave liked very much to have a real princess....
La Mere Baucheby Anthony TrollopeThe Pyreneean valley in which the baths of Vernet are situated is notmuch known to English, or indeed to any travellers. Tourists insearch of good hotels and picturesque beauty combined, do notgenerally extend their journeys to the Eastern Pyrenees. They rarelyget beyond Luchon; and in this they are right, as they thus end theirperegrinations at the most lovely spot among these mountains, and areas a rule so deceived, imposed on, and bewildered by guides,innkeepers, and horse-owners, at this otherwise delightful place, as...
TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR-BOAT(Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa)TOM SWIFT AND HISMOTOR-BOAT(Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa)VICTOR APPLETON1- Page 2-TOM SWIFT AND HIS MOTOR-BOAT(Or The Rivals of Lake Carlopa)CHAPTER IA MOTOR-BOAT AUCTION"Where are you going, Tom?" asked Mr. Barton Swift of his son as theyoung man was slowly pushing his motor-cycle out of the yard toward the...
The Wars of the Jewsor History of the Destruction of JerusalemBy Flavius JosephusTranslated by William WhistonPREFACE1. (1) Whereas the war which the Jews made with the Romans hath been the greatest of all those, not only that have been in our times, but, in a manner, of those that ever were heard of; both of those wherein cities have fought against cities, or nations against nations; while some men who were not concerned in the affairs themselves have gotten together vain and contradictory stories by hearsay, and have written them down after a sophistical manner; and while those that were th
Chapter 1 A Sunny Day in Londontown 3Chapter 2 Cops and Royals 14Chapter 3 Flowers and Families 37Chapter 4 Players 53Chapter 5 Perqs and Plots 67Chapter 6 Trials and Troubles 80Chapter 7 Speedbird Home 101Chapter 8 Information 115Chapter 9 A Day for Celebration 130Chapter 10 Plans and Threats 146Chapter 11 Warnings 156Chapter 12 Homeing 172Chapter 13 Visitors 187Chapter 14 Second Chances 198Chapter 15 Shock and Trauma 221Chapter 16 Objectives and Patriots 233Chapter 17 Recriminations and Decisions 245Chapter 18 Lights 257Chapter 19 Tests and Passing Grades 268...
The caretaker stirred when he heard the crunch of tires on gravel. There was barely any light left in the sky, and he had just made coffee and was reluctant to get up. But his curiosity got the better of him. Visitors to Alexandria seldom ventured into the cemetery at Ivy Hill; the historic town on the Potomac had a brace of other, more colorful attractions and amusements to offer the living. As for the locals, not many came out on a weekday; fewer still on a late afternoon when the April rains lashed the sky. Peering through his gatehouse window, the caretaker saw a man get out of an ordin
A few years ago, while I was writing Flood Tide, I realized that Dirk Pitt needed some help on a particular assignment, and so I dreamed up Juan Cabrillo. Cabrillo ran a ship called the Oregon, on the outside pletely nondescript, but on the inside packed with state-of-the-art intelligence-gathering equipment. It was a pletely private enterprise, available for any government agency that could afford it. It went where no warship could go, transported secret cargo without suspicion, plucked data out of the airit was the perfect plement to NUMA. In fact, I had so much fun writing about the Orego