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;　

　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 　

　Prologue　　 "e home, Tenar! e home!"　 In the deep valley, in the twilight, the apple trees were on the eve of blossoming; here and there among the shadowed boughs one flower had opened early, rose and white, like a faint star. Down the orchard aisles, in the thick, new, wet grass, the little girl ran for the joy of running; hearing the call she did not e at once, but made a long circle before she turned her face towards home. The mother waiting in the doorway of the hut, with the firelight behind her, watched the tiny figure running and bobbing like a bit of thistledown blown over the darkeni　

To Him That Hathby Ralph ConnorA NOVEL OF THE WEST OF TODAYCONTENTSCHAPTERI THE GAMEII THE COST OF SACRIFICEIII THE HEATHEN QUESTIV ANNETTEV THE RECTORYVI THE GRIEVANCE COMMITTEEVII THE FOREMANVIII FREE SPEECHIX THE DAY BEFOREX THE NIGHT OF VICTORYXI THE NEW MANAGERXII LIGHT THAT IS DARKNESSXIII THE STRIKEXIV GATHERING CLOUDSXV THE STORMXVI A GALLANT FIGHTXVII SHALL BE GIVENTO HIM THAT HATHCHAPTER ITHE GAME"Forty-Love.""Game! and Set. Six to two."...　

Beowulf AnonymousBeowulf AnonymousTranslated by Gummere1- Page 2-Beowulf AnonymousINow Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings, leader beloved, andlong he ruled in fame with all folk, since his father had gone away fromthe world, till awoke an heir, haughty Healfdene, who held through life,sage and sturdy, the Scyldings glad. Then, one after one, there woke to...　

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...　

THE MERCHANT OF VENICETHE MERCHANT OFVENICEWilliam Shakespeare15971- Page 2-THE MERCHANT OF VENICEDRAMATIS PERSONAETHE DUKE OF VENICE THE PRINCE OF MOROCCO, suitor toPortia THE PRINCE OF ARRAGON, " " " ANTONIO, a merchant ofVenice BASSANIO, his friend, suitor to Portia SOLANIO, friend to...　

PREFACETOTHE THIRD EDITION.OCTOBER 1814.To this slight attempt at a sketch of ancient Scottish manners thepublic have been more favourable than the Author durst have hopedor expected. He has heard, with a mixture of satisfaction andhumility, his work ascribed to more than one respectable name.Considerations, which seem weighty in his particular situation, preventhis releasing those gentlemen from suspicion by placing his ownname in the title-page; so that, for the present at least, it must remainuncertain whether Waverley be the work of a poet or acritic, a lawyer or a clergyman, or whether t　

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 　

The Wood Beyond the Worldby William MorrisCHAPTER I: OF GOLDEN WALTER AND HIS FATHERAwhile ago there was a young man dwelling in a great and goodly cityby the sea which had to name Langton on Holm. He was but of fiveand twenty winters, a fair-faced man, yellow-haired, tall andstrong; rather wiser than foolisher than young men are mostly wont;a valiant youth, and a kind; not of many words but courteous ofspeech; no roisterer, nought masterful, but peaceable and knowinghow to forbear: in a fray a perilous foe, and a trusty war-fellow.His father, with whom he was dwelling when this tale begi　

APPENDIX DThe Awful German LanguageA little learning makes the whole world kin.Proverbs xxxii, 7.I went often to look at the collection of curiositiesin Heidelberg Castle, and one day I surprised the keeperof it with my German. I spoke entirely in that language.He was greatly interested; and after I had talked a whilehe said my German was very rare, possibly a "unique";and wanted to add it to his museum.If he had known what it had cost me to acquire my art,he would also have known that it would break anycollector to buy it. Harris and I had been hard at...　

Those Extraordinary Twinsby Mark TwainA man who is born with the novel-writing gift has a troublesome time ofit when he tries to build a novel. I know this from experience. He hasno clear idea of his story; in fact he has no story. He merely has somepeople in his mind, and an incident or two, also a locality. He knowsthese people, he knows the selected locality, and he trusts that he canplunge those people into those incidents with interesting results. So hegoes to work. To write a novel? Nothat is a thought which comeslater; in the beginning he is only proposing to tell a little tale;　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE THREE GARRIDEBSby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleIt may have been a comedy, or it may have been a tragedy. It costone man his reason, it cost me a blood-letting, and it cost yetanother man the penalties of the law. Yet there was certainly anelement of comedy. Well, you shall judge for yourselves.I remember the date very well, for it was in the same month thatHolmes refused a knighthood for services which may perhaps some day bedescribed. I only refer to the matter in passing, for in my position...　

　　　　　　1.　　　　Fingers of lightning tore holes in the black skies as an angry cloudburst drenched the surrealistic landscape. It was 3 A.M. on a cold, wet morning in late November 1967. and the little houses scattered along the dirt road winding through the hills of West Virginia were all dark. Some seemed unoccupied and in the final stages of decay. Others were unpainted, neglected, forlorn. The whole setting was like the opening scene of a Grade B horror film from the 1930s.　　　　Along the road there came a stranger in a land where strangers were rare and suspect. He walked up to the door of a c　

　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　

A Selection From The Lyrical Poems Of Robert HerrickArranged with introduction by Francis Turner PalgravePREFACEROBERT HERRICK - Born 1591 : Died 1674Those who most admire the Poet from whose many pieces a selection only is here offered, will, it is probable, feel most strongly (with the Editor) that excuse is needed for an attempt of an obviously presumptuous nature. The choice made by any selector invites challenge: the admission, perhaps, of some poems, the absence of more, will be censured:Whilst others may wholly condemn the process, in virtue of an argument not unfrequently advanced o