CHAPTER I HIS LIFE (BORN 1441: DIED 1523) It is a curious fact that, considering the number of documents which exist relating to Signorelli, and the paintings time has spared, so little should be known beyond the merest outline of his life. The very dates of his birth and death are indirectly acquired; the documents leave his youth and early manhood an absolute blank, and there are only two of his... more...

CHAPTER I Lucia Rudini folded her arms across her gaily-colored bodice, tilted her dark head to one side and laughed. "I see you, little lazy bones," she said. "Wake up!" A small body curled into a ball in the grass at her feet moved slightly, and a sleepy voice whimpered, "Oh, Lucia, go away. I was having such a nice dream about our soldiers up there, and I was just killing a whole... more...

CANTO I. I. LETTER FROM THE COMTESSE DE NEVERS TO LORD ALFRED VARGRAVE. "I hear from Bigorre you are there. I am toldYou are going to marry Miss Darcy. Of old,So long since you may have forgotten it now(When we parted as friends, soon mere strangers to grow),Your last words recorded a pledge—what you will—A promise—the time is now come to fulfil.The letters I ask you, my lord, to return,I... more...

“GREETINGS, FELLOW-TRAVELERS” The great news was out! Two girls regarded their companion in open-mouthed astonishment. “Europe!” cried Jessie. “Lucy, will you please say that all over again and say it slowly,” she begged leaning forward tensely. Lucile’s eyes danced as she repeated slowly and with great emphasis, “I said just this—Dad is going to Europe and he intends to take me with... more...

ACT ONE SCENE: A Room in the Church Tower. Window shutters at back wide open, starlit sky is seen through windows. Background: Snow covered house-roofs; gable windows in the distance brilliantly illuminated. In room an old chair, a fire-pan and a picture of the Virgin, with a lighted candle before it. Room is divided by posts—two in centre thick enough to conceal an adult. Chant, in unison, from the... more...

CHAPTER I. A FAMILY GROUP. One July evening, at the commencement of the present century, several persons were somewhat picturesquely grouped along an old-fashioned terrace which skirted the garden-side of a manor-house that had considerable pretensions to baronial dignity. The architecture was of the most enriched and elaborate style belonging to the reign of James the First: the porch, opening on the... more...

INTRODUCTION Lucretia Borgia is the most unfortunate woman in modern history. Is this because she was guilty of the most hideous crimes, or is it simply because she has been unjustly condemned by the world to bear its curse? The question has never been answered. Mankind is ever ready to discover the personification of human virtues and human vices in certain typical characters found in history and... more...

I. Miss Preston's Last Sunday."Tell me the old, old storyOf unseen things above—Of Jesus and His glory,Of Jesus and His love." he light of a lovely Sabbath afternoon in June lay on the rich green woodlands, still bright with the vivid green of early summer, and sparkled on the broad river, tossed by the breeze into a thousand ripples, that swept past the village of Ashleigh. It would... more...

CHAPTER I "News and Mail, one cent each!" Half a dozen Chicago newsboys, varying in age from ten to sixteen years, with piles of papers in their hands, joined in the chorus. They were standing in front and at the sides of the Sherman House, on the corner of Clark and Randolph Streets, one of the noted buildings in the Lake City. On the opposite side of Randolph Street stands a gloomy stone... more...

LULU WIBBLEWOBBLE STUCK IN THE MUD Once upon a time, not so very many years ago, there lived three ducks in a duck pen. And this pen was not far from where Sammie and Susie Littletail, the rabbit children, had their burrow, and it was close to the trees where Johnnie and Billie Bushytail, the squirrel brothers, learned to jump from their nest. Now I am going to tell you some stories about these ducks,... more...