"The Captive"　Chapter One　She sat by the creek, half-hidden in lush grasses. Carefully she twined purple summer flowers into her single dark brown braid, and dabbled bare feet in the rushing water. Stems and crushed blooms littered the coarse yellow gown she wore and damp earth stained the garment, but she paid it no mind. She was purpose-fully intent on her work, for if she allowed her thoughts to range freely she would be overtaken by the knowledge and the hope that he still might e.　A songbird called from the forest behind and she glanced up, smiling at the delicate melody. Then her atten　

　The solitary figure in the saffron robes shielded his eyes from the glare and squinted down the glacier to where the enormous black vessel lay, one-third submerged, in the floor of the valley. Allowing for the portion lost below the icy surface of the frozen lake it was easily some three hundred cubits long, at least fifty wide and another thirty high. It had, overall, the appearance of some fantastic barge with a kind of gabled house mounted upon its deck. Its gopher wood timbers were blackened by a heavy coating of pitch and hardened by the petrification of the glacier which had kept it vi　

　　　In what felt to him like the first cold morning of the world, he groped for fire.　　　It was a high place where he searched, a lifeless, wind-scoured place, a rough, forbidding shelf of black and splintered rock. Snow, driven by squalls of frigid air, streamed across the black rock in white powder, making shifting veils of white over layers of gray ancient ice that was almost as hard as the rock itself. Dawn was in the sky, but still hundreds of kilometers away, as distant as the tiny sawteeth of the horizon to the northwest. The snowfields and icefields along that far edge of the world were　

　　His mind absorbed the scene before him, so quiet and calm and . . . normal. It was the life he had always wanted, a gathering of family and friends-he knew that they were just that, though the only one he recognized was his dear mother.　　This was the way it was supposed to be. The warmth and the love, the laughter and the quiet times. This was how he had always dreamed it would be, how he had always prayed it would be. The warm, inviting smiles. The pleasant conversation. The gentle pats on shoulders.　　But most of all there was the smile of his beloved mother, so happy now, no more a slave.　

　　The light of stars is so damn stark.　　When I look up, I fill with fear.　　If all we have is what lies here,　　this lonely world, this troubled place,　　then cold dead stars and empty space.　　Well, I see no reason to persevere,　　no reason to laugh or shed a tear,　　no reason to sleep or ever to wake,　　no promises to keep, and none to make.　　And so at night I still raise my eyes　　to study the clear but mysterious skies　　that arch above us, as cold as stone.　　Are you there, God? Are we alone?　　-The Book of Counted Sorrows　　ONELOST FOREVER...　

Cyrano de BergeracA Play in Five Actsby Edmond RostandTranslated from the French by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. GuillemardThe CharactersCYRANO DE BERGERACCHRISTIAN DE NEUVILLETTECOUNT DE GUICHERAGUENEAULE BRETCARBON DE CASTEL-JALOUXTHE CADETSLIGNIEREDE VALVERTA MARQUISSECOND MARQUISTHIRD MARQUISMONTFLEURYBELLEROSEJODELETCUIGYBRISSAILLETHE DOORKEEPERA LACKEYA SECOND LACKEYA BOREA MUSKETEERANOTHERA SPANISH OFFICERA PORTERA BURGHERHIS SONA PICKPOCKETA SPECTATORA GUARDSMANBERTRAND THE FIFERA MONKTWO MUSICIANS...　

everyone in the world to be godfather, and when still anotherchild was born, no one else was left whom he could invite.He knew not what to do, and, in his perplexity, he lay downand fell asleep. Then he dreamt that he was to go outside thegate,and ask the first person he met to be godfather. When he awoke,he determined to obey his dream, and went outside the gate, andasked the first person who came up to him to be godfather. Thestranger presented him with a little glass of water, and said,this is a wonderful water, with it you can heal the sick, onlyyou must see where death is standing. I　

SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE ADVENTURE OF THE BRUCE-PARTINGTON PLANby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleIn the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow fogsettled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I doubtwhether it was ever possible from our windows in Baker Street to seethe loom of the opposite houses. The first day Holmes had spent incross-indexing his huge book of references. The second and third hadbeen patiently occupied upon a subject which he had recently madehis hobby- the music of the Middle Ages. But when, for the fourth...　

IS SHAKESPEARE DEAD?(from My Autobiography)Scattered here and there through the stacks of unpublishedmanuscript which constitute this formidable Autobiography andDiary of mine, certain chapters will in some distant future befound which deal with "Claimants"claimants historicallynotorious: Satan, Claimant; the Golden Calf, Claimant; theVeiled Prophet of Khorassan, Claimant; Louis XVII., Claimant;William Shakespeare, Claimant; Arthur Orton, Claimant; Mary BakerG. Eddy, Claimantand the rest of them. Eminent Claimants,successful Claimants, defeated Claimants, royal Claimants, pleb...　

The Uncommercial Travellerby Charles DickensCHAPTER I - HIS GENERAL LINE OF BUSINESSAllow me to introduce myself - first negatively.No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, nowaiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me. No round ofbeef or tongue or ham is expressly cooked for me, no pigeon-pie isespecially made for me, no hotel-advertisement is personallyaddressed to me, no hotel-room tapestried with great-coats andrailway wrappers is set apart for me, no house of publicentertainment in the United Kingdom greatly cares for my opinion of...　

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY IN THE WOODTHERE were formerly a king and a queen, who were sosorry that they had no children; so sorry that it cannotbe expressed. They went to all the waters in the world;vows, pilgrimages, all ways were tried, and all to nopurpose.At last, however, the Queen had a daughter. There wasa very fine christening; and the Princess had for her god-mothers all the fairies they could find in the whole kingdom(they found seven), that every one of them mightgive her a gift, as was the custom of fairies in those days.By this means the Princess had all the perfections imaginable....　

An Open-Eyed ConspiracyAn Idyl of Saratogaby William Dean HowellsCHAPTER IThe day had been very hot under the tall trees which everywhereembower and stifle Saratoga, for they shut out the air as well asthe sun; and after tea (they still have an early dinner at all thehotels in Saratoga, and tea is the last meal of the day) I strolledover to the pretty Congress Park, in the hope of getting a breath ofcoolness there. Mrs. March preferred to take the chances on theverandah of our pleasant little hotel, where I left her with theother ladies, forty fanning like one, as they rocked to and fro...　

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypseby Vicente Blasco IbanezTranslated by Charlotte Brewster JordanCONTENTSPART II. THE TRYSTIN THE GARDEN OF THE EXPIATORY CHAPEL II. MADARIAGA, THE CENTAUR III. THE DESNOYERS FAMILY IV. THE COUSIN FROM BERLIN V. IN WHICH APPEAR THE FOUR HORSEMENPART III. WHAT DON MARCELO ENVIED II. NEW LIFE III. THE RETREAT IV. NEAR THE SACRED GROTTO V. THE INVASION VI. THE BANNER OF THE RED CROSSPART IIII. AFTER THE MARNE II. IN THE STUDIO IV. "NO ONE WILL KILL HIM" V. THE BURIAL FIELDSPART ICHAPTER ITHE TRYST...　

The Stokesley Secretby Charlotte M. YongeCHAPTER I."How can a pig pay the rent?"The question seemed to have been long under consideration, to judge by the manner in which it came out of the pouting lips of that sturdy young five-year-old gentleman, David Merrifield, as he sat on a volume of the great Latin Dictionary to raise him to a level with the tea-table.Long, however, as it had been considered, it was unheeded on account of one more interesting to the general public assembled round the table."I say!" hallooed out a tall lad of twelve holding aloft a slice taken from the dish in the cent　

The Gathering of Brother Hilariusby Michael Fairless Alias of Margaret Fairless BarberPART I - THE SEEDCHAPTER I - BLIND EYES IN THE FORESTHILARIUS stood at the Monastery gate, looking away down the smooth, well-kept road to the highway beyond. It lay quiet and serene in the June sunshine, the white way to the outer world, and not even a dust cloud on the horizon promised the approach of the train of sumpter mules laden with meats for the bellies and cloth for the backs of the good Brethren within. The Cellarer lacked wine, the drug stores in the farmery were running low; last, but not leas　

Weir of Hermistonby Robert Louis StevensonTO MY WIFEI saw rain falling and the rainbow drawnOn Lammermuir. Hearkening I heard againIn my precipitous city beaten bellsWinnow the keen sea wind. And here afar,Intent on my own race and place, I wrote.Take thou the writing: thine it is. For whoBurnished the sword, blew on the drowsy coal,Held still the target higher, chary of praiseAnd prodigal of counsel - who but thou?So now, in the end, if this the least be good,If any deed be done, if any fireBurn in the imperfect page, the praise be thine....