Marquise de Brinvilliersby Alexandre Dumas, PereTowards the end of the year 1665, on a fine autumn evening, there was a considerable crowd assembled on the Pont-Neuf where it makes a turn down to the rue Dauphine. The object of this crowd and the centre of attraction was a closely shut, carriage. A police official was trying to force open the door, and two out of the four sergeants who were with him were holding the horses back and the other two stopping the driver, who paid no attention to their commands, but only endeavoured to urge his horses to a gallop. The struggle had been going on 　

ELECBOOK CLASSICSHARDTIMESCharles Dickens- Page 2-ELECBOOK CLASSICSebc0006. Charles Dickens: Hard TimesThis file is free for individual use only. It must not be altered or resold.Organisations wishing to use it must first obtain a licence.Low cost licenses are available. Contact us through our web site(C) The Electric Book Co 1998The Electric Book Company Ltd20 Cambridge Drive, London SE12 8AJ, UK...　

　Chapter one　　He had been walking the dirty streets since twilight first began to gather. The pain streamed like liquid fire through every cell of his body - but he locked it away in a corner of his mind, ignored it, and walked.　There was little to please the eye in his surroundings, and he paid scant attention to them. He was on a small poor unimportant planet whose very name, Coranex, meant nothing to him. But around the spaceport clustered a drab, seedy town, which was a well-known stopover on the main space lanes. It attracted freightermen, traders, wandering technicians, space drifters o　

　Neither do they expect trouble with a cargo that is sewn up tight.　Only a privileged few knew exactly when the Kruxator Collection would arrive in the country. That it was due to e to Britain was mon knowledge, and you had only to read a newspaper to discover that March 15th was the day on which the fabled group of paintings and jewellery were to go on display - for two weeks - at the Victoria and Albert Museum.　The Kruxator Collection is called after its founder, the late Niko Kruxator, whose fabulous wealth arose from sources unknown, for he had arrived penniless in the United States at a　

Honorineby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara BellDEDICATIONTo Monsieur Achille DeveriaAn affectionate remembrance from the Author.HONORINEIf the French have as great an aversion for traveling as the Englishhave a propensity for it, both English and French have perhapssufficient reasons. Something better than England is everywhere to befound; whereas it is excessively difficult to find the charms ofFrance outside France. Other countries can show admirable scenery, andthey frequently offer greater comfort than that of France, which makes...　

Robert Falconerby George MacDonaldTOTHE MEMORYOF THE MAN WHOSTANDS HIGHEST IN THE ORATORYOF MY MEMORY,ALEXANDER JOHN SCOTT,I, DARING, PRESUME TO DEDICATE THIS BOOK.PART I.HIS BOYHOOD.CHAPTER I.A RECOLLECTION.Robert Falconer, school-boy, aged fourteen, thought he had neverseen his father; that is, thought he had no recollection of havingever seen him. But the moment when my story begins, he had begun todoubt whether his belief in the matter was correct. And, as he went...　

Of Refinement in the Artsby David HumeLUXURY is a word of an uncertain signification, and may betaken in a good as well as in a bad sense. In general, it meansgreat refinement in the gratification of the senses; and anydegree of it may be innocent or blameable, according to the age,or country, or condition of the person. The bounds between thevirtue and the vice cannot here be exactly fixed, more than inother moral subjects. To imagine, that the gratifying of anysense, or the indulging of any delicacy in meat, drink, orapparel, is of itself a vice, can never enter into a head, that...　

Dear Enemyby Jean WebsterSTONE GATE, WORCESTER,MASSACHUSETTS,December 27.Dear Judy:Your letter is here. I have read it twice, and with amazement. Do I understand that Jervis has given you, for a Christmas present, the making over of the John Grier Home into a model institution, and that you have chosen me to disburse the money? MeI, Sallie McBride, the head of an orphan asylum! My poor people, have you lost your senses, or have you become addicted to the use of opium, and is this the raving of two fevered imaginations? I am exactly as well fitted to take care of one hundred children as t　

FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE CONCEITED APPLE-BRANCHby Hans Christian AndersenIT was the month of May. The wind still blew cold; but from bushand tree, field and flower, came the welcome sound, "Spring iscome." Wild-flowers in profusion covered the hedges. Under thelittle apple-tree, Spring seemed busy, and told his tale from one ofthe branches which hung fresh and blooming, and covered withdelicate pink blossoms that were just ready to open. The branch wellknew how beautiful it was; this knowledge exists as much in the leaf...　

DREAMS & DUSTDREAMS & DUSTPOEMS BY DON MARQUISTO MY MOTHER VIRGINIA WHITMORE MARQUIS1- Page 2-DREAMS & DUSTPROEM"SO LET THEM PASS, THESE SONGS OFMINE"So let them pass, these songs of mine, Into oblivion, nor repine;Abandoned ruins of large schemes, Dimmed lights adrift from nobler...　

Record of Buddhistic Kingdomsby Fa-HienBeing an Account by the Chinese Monk Fa-Hien of his Travels in India and Ceylon (A.D. 399-414) in Search of the Buddhist Books of DisciplineTranslated and annotated with a Corean recension of the Chinese textBYJAMES LEGGEPREFACESeveral times during my long residence in Hong Kong I endeavoured to read through the "Narrative of Fa-hien;" but though interested with the graphic details of much of the work, its columns bristled so constantlynow with his phonetic representations of Sanskrit words, and now with his substitution for them of their meanings in Chi　

THE DESIRE OF AGESby ELLEN G.WHITEPREFACEIN THE HEARTS OF ALL MANKIND, OF WHATEVER RACE OR STATION IN LIFE, THERE ARE INEXPRESSIBLE LONGINGS FOR SOMETHING THEY DO NOT NOW POSSESS. THIS LONGING IS IMPLANTED IN THE VERY CONSTITUTION OF MAN BY A MERCIFUL GOD, THAT MAN MAY NOT BE SATISFIED WITH HIS PRESENT CONDITIONS OR ATTAINMENTS, WHETHER BAD, OR GOOD, OR BETTER. GOD DESIRES THAT THE HUMAN SHALL SEEK THE BEST, AND FIND IT TO THE ETERNAL BLESSING OF HIS SOUL.SATAN, BY WILY SCHEME AND CRAFT, HAS PERVERTED THESE LONGINGS OF THE HUMAN HEART. HE MAKES MEN BELIEVE THAT THIS DESIRE MAY BE SATISFIED BY　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELORby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleThe Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, havelong ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles inwhich the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have eclipsedit, and their more piquant details have drawn the gossips away fromthis four-year-old drama. As I have reason to believe, however, thatthe full facts have never been revealed to the general public, andas my friend Sherlock Holmes had a considerable share in clearing...　

　Acknowledgments　　A casebook edition of any work of literature is necessarily the result of work and good will by numerous people. We are deeply indebted to the writers who contributed the original materials contained in this volume.　We also wish to thank the authors, editors, and publishers who so kindly granted permissions for use of the previously published materials collected in this volume. Full acknowledgment for their valuable aid is printed in the headnote for each of the articles as well as original sources of publication.　The editors gratefully acknowledge the special courtesies of 　

　DEDICATION　　To Paty Cockrum, fan, friend, fine artist. You should see the pictures she sends me of Jean-Claud. She really is the voice of temptation.　　ACKNOWLEDGMENTS　　Ricia Mainhardt, my agent, who came up with the title.　Marion Stensgard who answered my questions.　The Wild Canid Survival and Research Center (Wolf Sanctuary) for letting me use their library.　Bonnee Pierson, who helped with a very different kind of research.　The Alternate Historians: Rett Macpherson who went above and beyond the call of duty for research, N.L. Drew who heard parts of this book over the phone, Tom Drennan, wh　

CHAPTER IBIRDS OF A FEATHER　　"YOUR mail, Mr. Rowden."　　"Ah, yes. Thank you."　　The switchboard operator passed a stack of envelopes to the man who stood in front of the lobby desk. Rowden smiled as he received the mail. He scanned the envelopes; then thrust them in his pocket and strolled into the elevator.　　The switchboard girl sighed as the door closed. It was not often that the Mallison Apartments received such debonair guests as Roke Rowden. Small and obscure in the midst of Manhattan, the Mallison catered chiefly to bargain-hunting tourists.　　Roke Rowden was a novelty. He had the beari