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　

The Firm of Nucingenby Honore de BalzacTranslated by James WaringTO MADAME ZULMA CARRAUDTo whom, madame, but to you should I inscribe this work; to you whose lofty and candid intellect is a treasury to your friends; to you that are to me not only a whole public, but the most indulgent of sisters as well? Will you deign to accept a token of the friendship of which I am proud? You, and some few souls as noble, will grasp the whole of the thought underlying The Firm of Nucingen, appended to Cesar Birotteau. Is there not a whole social lesson in the contrast between the two stories?　

The Red House Mysteryby A.A. Milne1The Red House MysteryTO JOHN VINE MILNE MY DEAR FATHER,Like all really nice people, you have a weakness for detective stories,and feel that there are not enough of them. So, after all that you havedone for me, the least that I can do for you is to write you one. Here itis: with more gratitude and affection than I can well put down here.A.A.M.2The Red House MysteryCHAPTER IMrs. Stevens is FrightenedIn the drowsy heat of the summer afternoon the Red House wastaking its siesta. There was a lazy murmur of bees in the flower-borders,...　

Tour Through the Eastern Counties of Englandby Daniel DefoeI began my travels where I purpose to end them, viz., at the Cityof London, and therefore my account of the city itself will comelast, that is to say, at the latter end of my southern progress;and as in the course of this journey I shall have many occasions tocall it a circuit, if not a circle, so I chose to give it the titleof circuits in the plural, because I do not pretend to havetravelled it all in one journey, but in many, and some of them manytimes over; the better to inform myself of everything I could find...　

The Day of the Confederacy, A Chronicle of the Embattled Southby Nathaniel W. StephensonCONTENTSI. THE SECESSION MOVEMENTII. THE DAVIS GOVERNMENTIII. THE FALL OF KING COTTONIV. THE REACTION AGAINST RICHMONDV. THE CRITICAL YEARVI. LIFE IN THE CONFEDERACYVII. THE TURNING OF THE TIDEVIII. A GAME OF CHANCEIX. DESPERATE REMEDIES X. DISINTEGRATIONXI. AN ATTEMPTED REVOLUTIONXII. THE LAST WORDBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTETHE DAY OF THE CONFEDERACYChapter I. The Secession MovementThe secession movement had three distinct stages. The first,...　

Droll Stories [V. 3]by Honore de BalzacCOLLECTED FROM THE ABBEYS OF TOURAINEVOLUME III: THE THIRD TEN TALESCONTENTSTHE THIRD TEN TALESPROLOGUEPERSEVERANCE IN LOVECONCERNING A PROVOST WHO DID NOT RECOGNISE THINGSABOUT THE MONK AMADOR, WHO WAS A GLORIOUS ABBOT OF TURPENAYBERTHA THE PENITENTHOW THE PRETTY MAID OF PORTILLON CONVINCED HER JUDGEIN WHICH IT IS DEMONSTRATED THAT FORTUNE IS ALWAYS FEMININECONCERNING A POOR MAN WHO WAS CALLED LE VIEUX PAR-CHEMINSODD SAYINGS OF THREE PILGRIMSINNOCENCE...　

PREFACE TO THE "CHARLES DICKENS" EDITION OF "AMERICAN NOTES"MY readers have opportunities of judging for themselves whether theinfluences and tendencies which I distrusted in America, had, atthat time, any existence but in my imagination. They can examinefor themselves whether there has been anything in the public careerof that country since, at home or abroad, which suggests that thoseinfluences and tendencies really did exist. As they find the fact,they will judge me. If they discern any evidences of wrong-going,in any direction that I have indicated, they will acknowledge that...　

The Boy Captives An Incident of the Indian War of 1695The Boy CaptivesAn Incident of the Indian War of 1695by John Greenleaf Whittier1- Page 2-The Boy Captives An Incident of the Indian War of 1695THE township of Haverhill, even as late as the close of theseventeenth century, was a frontier settlement, occupying an advancedposition in the great wilderness, which, unbroken by the clearing of a...　

DRIFT FROM TWO SHORESDRIFT FROM TWOSHORESby BRET HARTE1- Page 2-DRIFT FROM TWO SHORES2- Page 3-DRIFT FROM TWO SHORESTHE MAN ON THE BEACHIHe lived beside a river that emptied into a great ocean. The narrowstrip of land that lay between him and the estuary was covered at high tide...　

Lays of Ancient RomeLays of Ancient RomeBy Thomas Babbington Macaulay1- Page 2-Lays of Ancient RomePrefaceHoratius The LayThe Battle of the Lake Regillus The LayVirginia The LayThe Prophecy of Capys The LayThat what is called the history of the Kings and early Consuls ofRome is to a great extent fabulous, few scholars have, since the time of...　

The Spirit of Place and Other Essaysby Alice MeynellContents:The Spirit of PlaceMrs. DingleySolitudeThe Lady of the LyricsJulyWellsThe FootHave Patience, Little SaintThe Ladies of the IdyllA DerivationA CounterchangeRainLetters of Marceline ValmoreThe Hours of SleepThe HorizonHabits and ConsciousnessShadowsTHE SPIRIT OF PLACEWith mimicry, with praises, with echoes, or with answers, the poetshave all but outsung the bells. The inarticulate bell has found too...　

　IT BEGINS IN DARKNESS　　Effigies of the Earth King festooned the city around Castle Sylvarresta. Everywhere the effigies could be seenhanging beneath shopwindows, standing upright against the walls of the city gates, or nailed beside doorwaysstationed any place where the Earth King might find ingress into a home.　Many of the figures were crude things crafted by childrena few reeds twisted into the form of a man, often with a crown of oak leaves in its hair. But outside the doors of shops and taverns were more ornate figures of wood, the full size of a man, often elaborately painted and coifed　

Some Short Christmas StoriesSome Short ChristmasStoriesby Charles Dickens1- Page 2-Some Short Christmas StoriesA CHRISTMAS TREEI have been looking on, this evening, at a merry company of childrenassembled round that pretty German toy, a Christmas Tree. The tree wasplanted in the middle of a great round table, and towered high above their...　

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　

Mrs. General Talboysby Anthony TrollopeWhy Mrs. General Talboys first made up her mind to pass the winterof 1859 at Rome I never clearly understood. To myself she explainedher purposes, soon after her arrival at the Eternal City, bydeclaring, in her own enthusiastic manner, that she was inspired bya burning desire to drink fresh at the still living fountains ofclassical poetry and sentiment. But I always thought that there wassomething more than this in it. Classical poetry and sentiment weredoubtless very dear to her; but so also, I imagine, were the...　

Beasts, Men and Godsby Ferdinand OssendowskiEXPLANATORY NOTEWhen one of the leading publicists in America, Dr. Albert Shaw of the Review of Reviews, after reading the manuscript of Part I of this volume, characterized the author as "The Robinson Crusoe of the Twentieth Century," he touched the feature of the narrative which is at once most attractive and most dangerous; for the succession of trying and thrilling experiences recorded seems in places too highly colored to be real or, sometimes, even possible in this day and generation. I desire, therefore, to assure the reader at the outset th