Fiction Books

CHAPTER I. THE NEW-COMERS. "If you please, mum," said the voice of a domestic from somewhere round the angle of the door, "number three is moving in." Two little old ladies, who were sitting at either side of a table, sprang to their feet with ejaculations of interest, and rushed to the window of the sitting-room. "Take care, Monica dear," said one, shrouding herself in the lace... more...

CHAPTER I A CONNOISSEUR'S VAGARY "Hello!" I said, as I took down the receiver of my desk 'phone, in answer to the call. "Mr. Vantine wishes to speak to you, sir," said the office-boy. "All right," and I heard the snap of the connection. "Is that you, Lester?" asked Philip Vantine's voice. "Yes. So you're back again?" "Got in yesterday. Can... more...

"But how—at the worst?" "Oh, 'the worst'—don't talk about the worst! I can keep them quiet at the best, I seem to feel, simply by our being there. It will work, from week to week, of itself. You'll see." He was willing enough to see, but he desired to provide—! "Yet if it doesn't work?" "Ah, that's talking about the worst!" Well, it... more...

The new century has come upon us with a rush of energy that no century has shown before. Let us stand aside for a moment that we may see what kind of a century it is to be, what is the work it has to do, and what manner of men it will demand to do it. In most regards one century is like another. Just as men are men, so times are times. In the Twentieth Century there will be the same joys, the same... more...

ACT I. SCENE I.—The Street before DON JEROME'S House. Enter LOPEZ, with a dark lantern. Lop. Past three o'clock!—Soh! a notable hour for one of my regular disposition, to be strolling like a bravo through the streets of Seville! Well, of all services, to serve a young lover is the hardest.—Not that I am an enemy to love; but my love and my master's differ strangely.—Don Ferdinand... more...

. PARIS.--THE DODGE CLUB.--HOW TO SPEAK FRENCH.--HOW TO RAISE A CROWD. ILLUSTRATIONS. Dick!--Here I Invite My Friends.--The Club.--The Place Vendôme.--Keep It Buttons! . ORLEANS.--HOW TO QUELL A LANDLORD.--HOW TO FIGHT OFF HUMBUGS; AND HOW TO TRAVEL WITHOUT BAGGAGE. ILLUSTRATIONS. That's A Hotel Bill.--Cicero Against Verres. --Sac-r-r-r-ré. . THE RHONE IN A RAIN.--THE MAD FRENCHMAN.--SUICIDE A... more...

Dinner was over, and Mme. Constantin and her guests were seated under the lighted candles in her cosey salon. With the serving of the coffee and cigarettes, pillows had been adjusted to bare shoulders, stools moved under slippered feet, and easy lounges pushed nearer the fire. Greenough, his long body aslant, his head on the edge of a chair, his feet on the hearth rug, was blowing rings to the ceiling.... more...

CHAPTER I SPRING BANK A large, old-fashioned, weird-looking wooden building, with strangely shaped bay windows and stranger gables projecting here and there from the slanting roof, where the green moss clung in patches to the moldy shingles, or formed a groundwork for the nests the swallows built year after year beneath the decaying eaves. Long, winding piazzas, turning sharp, sudden angles, and low,... more...

Down in Devon. “Then you’re a villain!” “Nonsense, Mary; be reasonable.” “Reasonable, Captain Armstrong! I am reasonable, and I am telling you the truth. You are a villain!” “Why, you foolish girl, what did you expect?” “That you would be an officer and a gentleman. Once more, is it true that you are going to be married to that lady?” “Well,... more...

                          ERASMUS OF ROTTERDAM                              to his friend                          THOMAS MORE, health: As I was coming awhile since out of Italy for England, that I might not waste all that time I was to sit on horseback in foolish and illiterate fables, I chose rather one while to revolve... more...