Fantastic Fablesby Ambrose BierceContents:The Moral Principle and the Material InterestThe Crimson CandleThe Blotted Escutcheon and the Soiled ErmineThe Ingenious PatriotTwo KingsAn Officer and a ThugThe Conscientious OfficialHow Leisure CameThe Moral SentimentThe PoliticiansThe Thoughtful WardenThe Treasury and the ArmsThe Christian SerpentThe Broom of the TempleThe CriticsThe Foolish WomanFather and SonThe Discontented Malefactor...　

The Man of the Forestby Zane GreyCHAPTER IAt sunset hour the forest was still, lonely, sweet with tangof fir and spruce, blazing in gold and red and green; andthe man who glided on under the great trees seemed to blendwith the colors and, disappearing, to have become a part ofthe wild woodland.Old Baldy, highest of the White Mountains, stood up roundand bare, rimmed bright gold in the last glow of the settingsun. Then, as the fire dropped behind the domed peak, achange, a cold and darkening blight, passed down the blackspear-pointed slopes over all that mountain world....　

The Bean-FieldMeanwhile my beans, the length of whose rows, added together,was seven miles already planted, were impatient to be hoed, for theearliest had grown considerably before the latest were in theground; indeed they were not easily to be put off. What was themeaning of this so steady and self-respecting, this small Herculeanlabor, I knew not. I came to love my rows, my beans, though so manymore than I wanted. They attached me to the earth, and so I gotstrength like Antaeus. But why should I raise them? Only Heaven...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERYby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleWe were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when themaid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran inthis way:Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for fromthe west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy.Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. LeavePaddington by the 11:15."What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Will...　

George Sand, Some Aspects of Her Life and Writingsby Rene DoumicTranslated by Alys HallardFirst published in 1910. This volume is dedicated to MadameL. Landouzy with gratitude and affectionThis book is not intended as a study of George Sand. It ismerely a series of chapters touching on various aspects of her lifeand writings. My work will not be lost if the perusal of these pagesshould inspire one of the historians of our literature with the ideaof devoting to the great novelist, to her genius and her influence,a work of this kind.CONTENTS...　

The Turmoilby Booth TarkingtonTo Laurel.There is a midland city in the heart of fair, open country, a dirty andwonderful city nesting dingily in the fog of its own smoke. The strangermust feel the dirt before he feels the wonder, for the dirt will be upon himinstantly. It will be upon him and within him, since he must breathe it, andhe may care for no further proof that wealth is here better loved thancleanliness; but whether he cares or not, the negligently tended streetsincessantly press home the point, and so do the flecked and grimy citizens. At...　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE BELL-DEEPby Hans Christian Andersen"DING-DONG! ding-dong!" It sounds up from the "bell-deep" in theOdense-Au. Every child in the old town of Odense, on the island ofFunen, knows the Au, which washes the gardens round about the town,and flows on under the wooden bridges from the dam to thewater-mill. In the Au grow the yellow water-lilies and brownfeathery reeds; the dark velvety flag grows there, high and thick; oldand decayed willows, slanting and tottering, hang far out over the...　

The Hand of Ethelbertaby Thomas HardyPREFACEThis somewhat frivolous narrative was produced as an interludebetween stories of a more sober design, and it was given the sub-title of a comedy to indicatethough not quite accuratelythe aimof the performance. A high degree of probability was not attemptedin the arrangement of the incidents, and there was expected of thereader a certain lightness of mood, which should inform him with agood-natured willingness to accept the production in the spirit inwhich it was offered. The characters themselves, however, were...　

410 BCTHE BIRDSby Aristophanesanonymous translatorCHARACTERS IN THE PLAYEUELPIDESPITHETAERUSTROCHILUS, Servant to EpopsEpops (the Hoopoe)A BIRDA HERALDA PRIESTA POETAN ORACLE-MONGERMETON, a GeometricianAN INSPECTORA DEALER IN DECREESIRISA PARRICIDECINESIAS, a Dithyrambic PoetAN INFORMERPROMETHEUS...　

THE SCIENCE OF RIGHTby Immanual Kanttranslated by W. HastieINTRODUCTION TO THE SCIENCE OF RIGHT.GENERAL DEFINITIONS, AND DIVISIONS.A. What the Science of Right is.The Science of Right has for its object the principles of all thelaws which it is possible to promulgate by external legislation. Wherethere is such a legislation, it becomes, in actual application toit, a system of positive right and law; and he who is versed in the...　

The Patagoniaby Henry JamesCHAPTER IThe houses were dark in the August night and the perspective ofBeacon Street, with its double chain of lamps, was a foreshorteneddesert. The club on the hill alone, from its semi-cylindrical front,projected a glow upon the dusky vagueness of the Common, and as Ipassed it I heard in the hot stillness the click of a pair ofbilliard-balls. As "every one" was out of town perhaps the servants,in the extravagance of their leisure, were profaning the tables. Theheat was insufferable and I thought with joy of the morrow, of the...　

PERICLES490?-429 B.C.by Plutarchtranslated by John DrydenCAESAR once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying upand down with them in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs andmonkeys, embracing and making much of them, took occasion notunnaturally to ask whether the women in their country were not used tobear children; by that prince-like reprimand gravely reflecting uponpersons who spend and lavish upon brute beasts that affection and...　

Four Short Playsby John GalsworthyCONTENTS:HALL-MARKEDDEFEATTHE SUNPUNCH AND GOHALL-MARKEDA SATIRIC TRIFLECHARACTERSHERSELF.LADY ELLA.THE SQUIRE.THE MAID.MAUD.THE RECTOR.THE DOCTOR.THE CABMAN.HANNIBAL and EDWARDHALL-MARKEDThe scene is the sitting-room and verandah of HER bungalow.The room is pleasant, and along the back, where the verandahruns, it seems all window, both French and casement. There is adoor right and a door left. The day is bright; the time...　

Mementos of Boabdil.WHILE my mind was still warm with the subject of the unfortunateBoabdil, I set forth to trace the mementos of him still existing inthis scene of his sovereignty and misfortunes. In the Tower ofComares, immediately under the Hall of Ambassadors, are two vaultedrooms, separated by a narrow passage; these are said to have beenthe prisons of himself and his mother, the virtuous Ayxa la Horra;indeed, no other part of the tower would have served for thepurpose. The external walls of these chambers are of prodigious...　

The Woman in the Alcoveby Anna Katharine GreenCONTENTSI THE WOMAN WITH THE DIAMONDII THE GLOVESII ANSON DURANDIV EXPLANATIONSV SUPERSTITIONVI SUSPENSEVII NIGHT AND A VOICEVIII ARRESTIX THE MOUSE NIBBLES AT THE NETX I ASTONISH THE INSPECTORXI THE INSPECTOR ASTONISHES MEXII ALMOSTXIII THE MISSING RECOMMENDATIONXIV TRAPPEDXV SEARS OR WELLGOODXVI DOUBTXVII SWEETWATER IN A NEW ROLEXVIII THE CLOSED DOORXIX THE FACEXX MOONLIGHTAND A CLUEXXI GRIZEL! GRIZEL!XXII GUILTXXIII THE GREAT MOGULITHE WOMAN WITH THE DIAMOND...　

　　PREFACE　... And behind the Northern Armies came another army of men. They came by the hundreds, yet each traveled alone. They came on foot, by mule, on horseback, on creaking wagons or riding in handsome chaises. They were of all shapes and sizes and descended from many nationalities. They wore dark suits, usually covered with the gray dust of travel, and dark, broad-brimmed hats to shield their white faces from the hot, unfamiliar sun. And on their back, or across their saddle, or on top of their wagon was the inevitable faded multicolored bag made of worn and ragged remnants of carpet int