THE MYSTERIOUS PORTRAITPART INowhere did so many people pause as before the little picture-shop inthe Shtchukinui Dvor. This little shop contained, indeed, the mostvaried collection of curiosities. The pictures were chieflyoil-paintings covered with dark varnish, in frames of dingy yellow.Winter scenes with white trees; very red sunsets, like ragingconflagrations, a Flemish boor, more like a turkey-cock in cuffs thana human being, were the prevailing subjects. To these must be added afew engravings, such as a portrait of Khozreff-Mirza in a sheepskin...　

THE DEATH OF JEANThe death of Jean Clemens occurred early in the morning ofDecember 24, 1909. Mr. Clemens was in great stress of mind whenI first saw him, but a few hours later I found him writingsteadily."I am setting it down," he said, "everything. It is arelief to me to write it. It furnishes me an excuse forthinking." At intervals during that day and the next I lookedin, and usually found him writing. Then on the evening of the26th, when he knew that Jean had been laid to rest in Elmira, hecame to my room with the manuscript in his hand....　

The Children of the Nightby Edwin Arlington RobinsonA Book of PoemsTo the Memory of my Father and MotherContentsThe Children of the NightThree QuatrainsThe WorldAn Old StoryBallade of a ShipBallade by the FireBallade of Broken FlutesBallade of Dead FriendsHer EyesTwo MenVillanelle of ChangeJohn EvereldownLuke HavergalThe House on the HillRichard CoryTwo OctavesCalvaryDear FriendsThe Story of the Ashes and the FlameFor Some Poems by Matthew Arnold...　

At the Sign of the Cat and Racketby Honore de BalzacTranslated by Clara BellDEDICATIONTo Mademoiselle Marie de MontheauAT THE SIGN OF THE CAT AND RACKETHalf-way down the Rue Saint-Denis, almost at the corner of the Rue duPetit-Lion, there stood formerly one of those delightful houses whichenable historians to reconstruct old Paris by analogy. The threateningwalls of this tumbledown abode seemed to have been decorated withhieroglyphics. For what other name could the passer-by give to the Xsand Vs which the horizontal or diagonal timbers traced on the front,...　

THE SCARLET LETTERby Nathaniel HawthorneINTRODUCTORYTHE CUSTOM-HOUSE.INTRODUCTORY TO "THE SCARLET LETTER".IT is a little remarkable, that- though disinclined to talk overmuchof myself and my affairs at the fireside, and to my personalfriends- an autobiographical impulse should twice in my life havetaken possession of me, in addressing the public. The first time wasthree or four years since, when I favoured the reader- inexcusably,and for no earthly reason, that either the indulgent reader or the...　

De Profundisby Oscar Wilde. . . Suffering is one very long moment. We cannot divide it byseasons. We can only record its moods, and chronicle their return.With us time itself does not progress. It revolves. It seems tocircle round one centre of pain. The paralysing immobility of alife every circumstance of which is regulated after an unchangeablepattern, so that we eat and drink and lie down and pray, or kneelat least for prayer, according to the inflexible laws of an ironformula: this immobile quality, that makes each dreadful day in...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOLby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleTHE ADVENTURE OF THE PRIORY SCHOOLWe have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stageat Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden andstartling than the first appearance of Thorneycroft Huxtable, M.A.,Ph.D., etc. His card, which seemed too small to carry the weight ofhis academic distinctions, preceded him by a few seconds, and thenhe entered himself- so large, so pompous, and so dignified that he was...　

TANGLEWOOD TALESTANGLEWOOD TALESby NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE1- Page 2-TANGLEWOOD TALESTHE WAYSIDE.INTRODUCTORY.A short time ago, I was favored with a flying visit from my youngfriend Eustace Bright, whom I had not before met with since quitting thebreezy mountains of Berkshire. It being the winter vacation at his college,Eustace was allowing himself a little relaxation, in the hope, he told me, of...　

A Book of Strife in the Form of The Diary of an Old Soulby George MacDonaldDEDICATIONSweet friends, receive my offering. You will findAgainst each worded page a white page set:This is the mirror of each friendly mindReflecting that. In this book we are met.Make it, dear hearts, of worth to you indeed:Let your white page be ground, my print be seed,Growing to golden ears, that faith and hope shall feed.YOUR OLD SOULThe Diary of an Old Soul.JANUARY.1.LORD, what I once had done with youthful might,Had I been from the first true to the truth,...　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MENby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleTHE ADVENTURE OF THE DANCING MENHolmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long, thinback curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing aparticularly malodorous product. His head was sunk upon his breast,and he looked from my point of view like a strange, lank bird, withdull gray plumage and a black top-knot."So, Watson," said he, suddenly, "you do not propose to invest inSouth African securities?"...　

THE FIRST WRITING-MACHINESFrom My Unpublished AutobiographySome days ago a correspondent sent in an old typewritten sheet,faded by age, containing the following letter over the signatureof Mark Twain:"Hartford, March 10, 1875."Please do not use my name in any way. Please do not even divulgethat fact that I own a machine. I have entirely stopped usingthe typewriter, for the reason that I never could write a letterwith it to anybody without receiving a request by return mail that Iwould not only describe the machine, but state what progress I had...　

A Modest Proposalby Jonathan SwiftA Modest Proposal for preventing the children of poor people inIreland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and formaking them beneficial to the publick.by Dr. Jonathan Swift. 1729It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this greattown, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, theroads and cabbin-doors crowded with beggars of the female sex,followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, andimportuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers instead of...　

The Nature of Rentby T.R. Malthus1815An Inquiry into the Nature and Progress of Rent, and thePrinciples by which it is regulated.by Rev. T.R. Malthus,Professor of History and Political Economy In the East IndiaCollege, HertfordshireLondon, Printed for John Murray, Albemarle Street1815.AdvertisementThe following tract contains the substance of some notes onrent, which, with others on different subjects relating topolitical economy, I have collected in the course of myprofessional duties at the East India College. It has been my...　

　　-SHELLY, Prometheus Unbound　　　　　　Part One TERRA INCOGNITA　　　　Hell is the place of those who have denied; They find there what they planted and what dug.　　A Lake of Spaces, and a Wood of Nothing, And wander there and drift, and never cease Wailing for substance.　　-W.B. YEATS, The Hour Glass　　　　　　1　　The air was electric the day the thief crossed the city, certain that tonight, after so many weeks of frustration, he would finally locate the card-player. It was not an easy journey. Eighty-five percent of Warsaw had been leveled, either by the months of mortar bombardment that had preceded the R　

Queen Victoriaby Lytton StracheyCONTENTSCHAPTERI. ANTECEDENTSII. CHILDHOODIII. LORD MELBOURNEIV. MARRIAGEV. LORD PALMERSTONVI. LAST YEARS OF THE PRINCE CONSORTVII. WIDOWHOODVIII. MR. GLADSTONE AND LORD BEACONSFIELDIX. OLD AGEX. THE ENDBIBLIOGRAPHYQUEEN VICTORIACHAPTER I. ANTECEDENTSIOn November 6, 1817, died the Princess Charlotte, only child of the Prince Regent, and heir to the crown of England. Her short life had hardly been a happy one. By nature impulsive, capricious, and vehement, she had always longed for liberty; and she had never possessed it. She had been brought 　

The Courtship of Susan Bellby Anthony TrollopeJohn Munroe Bell had been a lawyer in Albany, State of New York, andas such had thriven well. He had thriven well as long as thrift andthriving on this earth had been allowed to him. But the Almightyhad seen fit to shorten his span.Early in life he had married a timid, anxious, pretty, good littlewife, whose whole heart and mind had been given up to do his biddingand deserve his love. She had not only deserved it but hadpossessed it, and as long as John Munroe Bell had lived, HenriettaBellHetta as he called herhad been a woman rich in blessings