Datasets:

Qilex

/

small_author_dataset

like 0

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

thought however that before taking the final step I should like to submit the whole matter to your consideration Well Miss Hunter if your mind is made up that settles the question said Holmes smiling But you would not advise me to refuse I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to see a sister of mine apply for What is the meaning of it all Mr Holmes Ah I have no data I cannot tell Perhaps you have yourself formed some opinion Well there seems to me to be only one possible solution Mr Rucastle

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

difficulty in conveying my meaning At first my efforts met with a stare of surprise or inextinguishable laughter but presently a fair haired little creature seemed to grasp my intention and repeated a name They had to chatter and explain the business at great length to each other and my first attempts to make the exquisite little sounds of their language caused an immense amount of genuine if uncivil amusement However I felt like a schoolmaster amidst children and persisted and presently I had a score of noun substantives at least at my command and then I got to demonstrative

Jane Austen

Emma

and staid to look through herself however she called me back presently and let me look too which was very good natured And how beautiful we thought he looked He was arm in arm with Mr Cole This is an alliance which whoever whatever your friends may be must be agreeable to them provided at least they have common sense and we are not to be addressing our conduct to fools If they are anxious to see you _happily_ married here is a man whose amiable character gives every assurance of it if they wish to have you settled in

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

seen conflicted confused him It seemed to him the most amazing thing of all that in his thirty years of life he had never tried to shape a picture of these coming times We were making the future he said and hardly any of us troubled to think what future we were making And here it is What have they got to what has been done How do I come into the midst of it all The vastness of street and house he was prepared for the multitudes of people But conflicts in the city ways And the systematised sensuality

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

so much savage anger that it startled me What s that I called after him but the door had closed He came back again with the boiled mutton and I was so excited by the appetising smell of it that I forgot the noise of the beast that had troubled me After a day of alternate sleep and feeding I was so far recovered as to be able to get from my bunk to the scuttle and see the green seas trying to keep pace with us I judged the schooner was running before the wind Montgomery that was the

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

yet he replied I am looking about me Somehow that pursuit seemed more in keeping with Barnard s Inn I said in a tone of conviction Ah h Yes I am in a counting house and looking about me Is a counting house profitable I asked To do you mean to the young fellow who s in it he asked in reply Yes to you Why n no not to me He said this with the air of one carefully reckoning up and striking a balance Not directly profitable That is it doesn t pay me anything and I have

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

to drive a sort of bargain from whose ill results you have recently been smarting The one man took the lady the other the estate Now Mr David they talk a great deal of charity and generosity but in this disputable state of life I often think the happiest consequences seem to flow when a gentleman consults his lawyer and takes all the law allows him Anyhow this piece of Quixotry on your father s part as it was unjust in itself has brought forth a monstrous family of injustices Your father and mother lived and died poor folk you

Jane Austen

Emma

but _she_ would be ready to quarrel with you for using such words Don t let her imagine that you have spoken of her as a pretty young woman I hope I should know better he replied no depend upon it with a gallant bow that in addressing Mrs Weston I should understand whom I might praise without any danger of being thought extravagant in my terms Emma wondered whether the same suspicion of what might be expected from their knowing each other which had taken strong possession of her mind had ever crossed his and whether his compliments were

Jane Austen

Emma

This will be complete enjoyment and I do not know Mrs Elton whether the uncertainty of our meetings the sort of constant expectation there will be of his coming in to day or to morrow and at any hour may not be more friendly to happiness than having him actually in the house I think it is so I think it is the state of mind which gives most spirit and delight I hope you will be pleased with my son but you must not expect a prodigy He is generally thought a fine young man but do not expect

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

appeared to be much more modern than the central part of the house and the bright paper and numerous candles did something to remove the sombre impression which our arrival had left upon my mind But the dining room which opened out of the hall was a place of shadow and gloom It was a long chamber with a step separating the dais where the family sat from the lower portion reserved for their dependents At one end a minstrel s gallery overlooked it Black beams shot across above our heads with a smoke darkened ceiling beyond them With rows

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

fewest words Except when it s blowing up and then they lengthens it out And now that he s thoroughly up to it let s have some supper and get a snooze before starting In pursuance of this request Nancy quickly laid the cloth disappearing for a few minutes she presently returned with a pot of porter and a dish of sheep s heads which gave occasion to several pleasant witticisms on the part of Mr Sikes founded upon the singular coincidence of jemmies being a can name common to them and also to an ingenious implement much used in

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

glitter of black sea water overarched by buildings and vanishing either way into a blackness starred with receding lights A string of black barges passed seaward manned by blue clad men The road was a long and very broad and high tunnel along which big wheeled machines drove noiselessly and swiftly Here too the distinctive blue of the Labour Department was in abundance The smoothness of the double tracks the largeness and the lightness of the big pneumatic wheels in proportion to the vehicular body struck Graham most vividly One lank and very high carriage with longitudinal metallic rods hung

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

5 pr G The people began to boo and shout at this a number of hard breathing wild eyed men came running past clawing with hooked fingers at the air There was a furious crush about a little doorway Asano did a brief inaccurate calculation Seventeen per cent per annum is their annuity on you They would not pay so much per cent if they could see you now Sire But they do not know Your own annuities used to be a very safe investment but now you are sheer gambling of course This is probably a desperate bid I

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

I cried with some bitterness I think that I have deserved better at your hands Holmes My dear fellow you have been invaluable to me in this as in many other cases and I beg that you will forgive me if I have seemed to play a trick upon you In truth it was partly for your own sake that I did it and it was my appreciation of the danger which you ran which led me to come down and examine the matter for myself Had I been with Sir Henry and you it is confident that my point

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

the South Downs and staring over his shoulder saw the battlements of Portsmouth Landing Stage towering over the ridge of Portsdown Hill In another moment there came into sight a spread of shipping like floating cities the little white cliffs of the Needles dwarfed and sunlit and the grey and glittering waters of the narrow sea They seemed to leap the Solent in a moment and in a few seconds the Isle of Wight was running past and then beneath him spread a wider and wider extent of sea here purple with the shadow of a cloud here grey here

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

the long table began to write his letter with his mouth on one side for this business of the Black Arrow stuck sorely in his throat Meanwhile young Shelton was going on heartily enough with his breakfast when he felt a touch upon his arm and a very soft voice whispering in his ear Make not a sign I do beseech you said the voice but of your charity tell me the straight way to Holywood Beseech you now good boy comfort a poor soul in peril and extreme distress and set me so far forth upon the way to

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

a deep muttered rumble musical and yet menacing rising and falling like the low constant murmur of the sea The hound cried Holmes Come Watson come Great heavens if we are too late He had started running swiftly over the moor and I had followed at his heels But now from somewhere among the broken ground immediately in front of us there came one last despairing yell and then a dull heavy thud We halted and listened Not another sound broke the heavy silence of the windless night I saw Holmes put his hand to his forehead like a man

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

adding that he had been to the window not long before and that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from the same source He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr Neville St Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police As to Mrs St Clair s assertion that she had actually seen her husband at the window he declared that she must have been either mad or dreaming He was removed loudly protesting to the police station while the inspector remained upon

Jane Austen

Persuasion

of her as I have told you before quite afraid of her because she is so very clever but I respect her amazingly and wish we had such a neighbour at Uppercross Anne was amused by Henrietta s manner of being grateful and amused also that the course of events and the new interests of Henrietta s views should have placed her friend at all in favour with any of the Musgrove family she had only time however for a general answer and a wish that such another woman were at Uppercross before all subjects suddenly ceased on seeing Louisa

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

this place I have not as yet an idea I have never yet encountered any problem however which my inventive brain was unable to solve and I promise you that to morrow I will turn my attention to the question of our descent And so the matter was allowed to rest But that evening by the light of the fire and of a single candle the first map of the lost world was elaborated Every detail which I had roughly noted from my watch tower was drawn out in its relative place Challenger s pencil hovered over the great blank

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

long before I put this theory to the test of practice I knew well that I risked death for any drug that so potently controlled and shook the very fortress of identity might by the least scruple of an overdose or at the least inopportunity in the moment of exhibition utterly blot out that immaterial tabernacle which I looked to it to change But the temptation of a discovery so singular and profound at last overcame the suggestions of alarm I had long since prepared my tincture I purchased at once from a firm of wholesale chemists a large quantity

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

voice as he relinquished Mr Brownlow s hand The papers said Fagin drawing Oliver towards him are in a canvas bag in a hole a little way up the chimney in the top front room I want to talk to you my dear I want to talk to you Yes yes returned Oliver Let me say a prayer Do Let me say one prayer Say only one upon your knees with me and we will talk till morning Outside outside replied Fagin pushing the boy before him towards the door and looking vacantly over his head Say I ve gone

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

nor was his amazement at all lessened by hearing the voice of Mr Crummles exclaim It is he my friend my friend Bless my heart cried Nicholas struggling in the manager s arms what are you about The manager made no reply but strained him to his breast again exclaiming as he did so Farewell my noble my lion hearted boy In fact Mr Crummles who could never lose any opportunity for professional display had turned out for the express purpose of taking a public farewell of Nicholas and to render it the more imposing he was now to that

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

may be so or it may not be but I couldn t think of it for an instant not on any account whatever I said I never would and I never will It s a very painful thing to have to reject proposals and I would much rather that none were made at the same time this is the answer that I determined long ago to make and this is the answer I shall always give These observations were partly addressed to the old gentleman partly to Kate and partly delivered in soliloquy Towards their conclusion the suitor evinced a

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

room where Edmund prepared her paper and ruled her lines with all the goodwill that her brother could himself have felt and probably with somewhat more exactness He continued with her the whole time of her writing to assist her with his penknife or his orthography as either were wanted and added to these attentions which she felt very much a kindness to her brother which delighted her beyond all the rest He wrote with his own hand his love to his cousin William and sent him half a guinea under the seal Fanny s feelings on the occasion were

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

fly blown little shop in a by way near Drury Lane with a window full of tinsel robes sham jewels wigs slippers dominoes and theatrical photographs The shop was old fashioned and low and dark and the house rose above it for four storeys dark and dismal I peered through the window and seeing no one within entered The opening of the door set a clanking bell ringing I left it open and walked round a bare costume stand into a corner behind a cheval glass For a minute or so no one came Then I heard heavy feet striding

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

could lie down and rest It was not too soon My arms ached my back was cramped and I was trembling with the prolonged terror of a fall Besides this the unbroken darkness had had a distressing effect upon my eyes The air was full of the throb and hum of machinery pumping air down the shaft I do not know how long I lay I was arroused by a soft hand touching my face Starting up in the darkness I snatched at my matches and hastily striking one I saw three stooping white creatures similar to the one I

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

Crowl Want me By name asked Newman By name replied Crowl Mr Newman Noggs as pat as need be Newman reflected for a few seconds and then hurried away muttering that he would be back directly He was as good as his word for in an exceedingly short time he burst into the room and seizing without a word of apology or explanation a lighted candle and tumbler of hot punch from the table darted away like a madman What the deuce is the matter with him exclaimed Crowl throwing the door open Hark Is there any noise above The

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

excitement and the two Bull men in their swathings of white Then came Moreau in a cluster of the Beast People his wide brimmed straw hat blown off his revolver in hand and his lank white hair streaming out The Hyena swine ran beside me keeping pace with me and glancing furtively at me out of his feline eyes and the others came pattering and shouting behind us The Leopard man went bursting his way through the long canes which sprang back as he passed and rattled in M ling s face We others in the rear found a trampled

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

Lizzy that you should be forced to have that disagreeable man all to yourself But I hope you will not mind it it is all for Jane s sake you know and there is no occasion for talking to him except just now and then So do not put yourself to inconvenience During their walk it was resolved that Mr Bennet s consent should be asked in the course of the evening Elizabeth reserved to herself the application for her mother s She could not determine how her mother would take it sometimes doubting whether all his wealth and grandeur

Jane Austen

Persuasion

zeal but sport and his time was otherwise trifled away without benefit from books or anything else He had very good spirits which never seemed much affected by his wife s occasional lowness bore with her unreasonableness sometimes to Anne s admiration and upon the whole though there was very often a little disagreement in which she had sometimes more share than she wished being appealed to by both parties they might pass for a happy couple They were always perfectly agreed in the want of more money and a strong inclination for a handsome present from his father but

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

like one who was trying to keep hold of an idea that eluded him They were put into my pocket by Weena when I travelled into Time He stared round the room I m damned if it isn t all going This room and you and the atmosphere of every day is too much for my memory Did I ever make a Time Machine or a model of a Time Machine Or is it all only a dream They say life is a dream a precious poor dream at times but I can t stand another that won t fit

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

In the morning it was not long before we discovered the source of the hideous uproar which had aroused us in the night The iguanodon glade was the scene of a horrible butchery From the pools of blood and the enormous lumps of flesh scattered in every direction over the green sward we imagined at first that a number of animals had been killed but on examining the remains more closely we discovered that all this carnage came from one of these unwieldy monsters which had been literally torn to pieces by some creature not larger perhaps but far more

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

life of man You find me fallen back FOR a spring and I have every reason to believe that a vigorous leap will shortly be the result I was expressing my satisfaction when Mrs Micawber came in a little more slatternly than she used to be or so she seemed now to my unaccustomed eyes but still with some preparation of herself for company and with a pair of brown gloves on My dear said Mr Micawber leading her towards me here is a gentleman of the name of Copperfield who wishes to renew his acquaintance with you It would

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

world and women and social life and that sort of thing and such an incident has the fascination of the unknown for me I know you and I knew her by sight I had even spoken to her once or twice I should very much like to hear from your own lips exactly what it was which occurred between you I won t tell you a word That s all right It was only my whim to see if you would give up a secret as easily as you expected me to give up my secret of the new catacomb

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

I remember a long gallery of rusting stands of arms and how I hesitated between my crowbar and a hatchet or a sword I could not carry both however and my bar of iron promised best against the bronze gates There were numbers of guns pistols and rifles The most were masses of rust but many were of some new metal and still fairly sound But any cartridges or powder there may once have been had rotted into dust One corner I saw was charred and shattered perhaps I thought by an explosion among the specimens In another place was

Jane Austen

Persuasion

without the talking laughing and singing of their daughters She played a great deal better than either of the Miss Musgroves but having no voice no knowledge of the harp and no fond parents to sit by and fancy themselves delighted her performance was little thought of only out of civility or to refresh the others as she was well aware She knew that when she played she was giving pleasure only to herself but this was no new sensation Excepting one short period of her life she had never since the age of fourteen never since the loss of

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

we could do would be to pass the night in the open protected by a fire In the morning there was the getting of the Time Machine Towards that as yet I had only my iron mace But now with my growing knowledge I felt very differently towards those bronze doors Up to this I had refrained from forcing them largely because of the mystery on the other side They had never impressed me as being very strong and I hoped to find my bar of iron not altogether inadequate for the work XII In the Darkness We emerged from

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

said the Voice and Mr Marvel abruptly became silent He blew out his cheeks and his eyes were eloquent of despair It s bad enough to let these floundering yokels explode my little secret without _your_ cutting off with my books It s lucky for some of them they cut and ran when they did Here am I No one knew I was invisible And now what am I to do What am _I_ to do asked Marvel _sotto voce_ It s all about It will be in the papers Everybody will be looking for me everyone on their guard

Jane Austen

Persuasion

consciousness of having by some complication of mutual trick or some overbearing authority of his been obliged to attend perhaps for half an hour to his lectures and restrictions on her designs on Sir Walter She exclaimed however with a very tolerable imitation of nature Oh dear very true Only think Miss Elliot to my great surprise I met with Mr Elliot in Bath Street I was never more astonished He turned back and walked with me to the Pump Yard He had been prevented setting off for Thornberry but I really forget by what for I was in a

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

of my own knowledge does not pass beyond that point Others will follow others will outstrip me on the same lines and I hazard the guess that man will be ultimately known for a mere polity of multifarious incongruous and independent denizens I for my part from the nature of my life advanced infallibly in one direction and in one direction only It was on the moral side and in my own person that I learned to recognise the thorough and primitive duality of man I saw that of the two natures that contended in the field of my consciousness

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

from him but I learnt afterwards he was a great church goer while on shore But for all that says he I can be sorry to see another man with his back to the wall Can ye so indeed asked the Jacobite Well sir to be quite plain with ye I am one of those honest gentlemen that were in trouble about the years forty five and six and to be still quite plain with ye if I got into the hands of any of the red coated gentry it s like it would go hard with me Now sir

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

out his hand and seized the puzzle By George he cried I believe I ve got it The boy guessed right the very first time See here How many marks are on that paper Eighteen Well if you come to think of it there are eighteen cave openings on the hill side above us He pointed up to the caves when he gave it to me said I Well that settles it This is a chart of the caves What Eighteen of them all in a row some short some deep some branching same as we saw them It s

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

send a telegram to San Francisco Thanks to my quickness we may hear to night There appears to be no doubt sir that John has been abominably used When did this take place asked the father Last night sir after you were asleep was the reply It s most extraordinary said Mr Nicholson Do you mean to say you have been out all night All night as you say sir I have been to the telegraph and the police office and Mr Macewen s Oh I had my hands full said Alexander Very irregular said the father You think of

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

what further cards we have in our hands and play them with decision Could you swear to that man s face within the cab I could swear only to the beard And so could I from which I gather that in all probability it was a false one A clever man upon so delicate an errand has no use for a beard save to conceal his features Come in here Watson He turned into one of the district messenger offices where he was warmly greeted by the manager Ah Wilson I see you have not forgotten the little case in

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

a schoolmaster in Chesterfield where I received an excellent education I travelled in my youth took to the stage and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London One day my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the metropolis and I volunteered to supply them There was the point from which all my adventures started It was only by trying begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to base my articles When an actor I had of course learned all the secrets of making up and had been

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

into the gallery came and stood on either hand of Graham You must remain here murmured Howard for a few moments and without waiting for a reply hurried away along the gallery But _why_ began Graham He moved as if to follow Howard and found his path obstructed by one of the men in red You have to wait here Sire said the man in red _Why_ Orders Sire Whose orders Our orders Sire Graham looked his exasperation What place is this he said presently Who are those men They are the lords of the Council Sire What Council _The_

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

me a sketch of the course of events from memory Certainly though I cannot guarantee that I carry all the facts in my mind Intense mental concentration has a curious way of blotting out what has passed The barrister who has his case at his fingers ends and is able to argue with an expert upon his own subject finds that a week or two of the courts will drive it all out of his head once more So each of my cases displaces the last and Mlle Carére has blurred my recollection of Baskerville Hall Tomorrow some other little

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

own he was right in every feature and told my wonder Ha says he that s nothing Would ye believe me now that before the Act came out and when there were weepons in this country I could shoot Ay could I cries he and then with a leer If ye had such a thing as a pistol here to try with I would show ye how it s done I told him I had nothing of the sort and gave him a wider berth If he had known his pistol stuck at that time quite plainly out of his

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of Fire The word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of spectators well dressed and ill gentlemen ostlers and servant maids joined in a general shriek of Fire Thick clouds of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window I caught a glimpse of rushing figures and a moment later the voice of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm Slipping through the shouting

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

some hesitation he ordered that the friendship should cease an unfair command though seemingly inspired by the spirit of prophecy and John saying nothing continued to disobey the order under the rose John was nearly nineteen when he was one day dismissed rather earlier than usual from his father s office where he was studying the practice of the law It was Saturday and except that he had a matter of four hundred pounds in his pocket which it was his duty to hand over to the British Linen Company s Bank he had the whole afternoon at his disposal

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

countenances stooping to look in This glass has seen some strange things sir whispered Poole And surely none stranger than itself echoed the lawyer in the same tones For what did Jekyll he caught himself up at the word with a start and then conquering the weakness what could Jekyll want with it he said You may say that said Poole Next they turned to the business table On the desk among the neat array of papers a large envelope was uppermost and bore in the doctor s hand the name of Mr Utterson The lawyer unsealed it and several

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

whole crowd seemed to swing round in the direction of the glint of fire and I too was swung round by the magnetism of the movement In another second I was running one of a tumultuous shouting crowd in pursuit of the escaping Leopard man That is all I can tell definitely I saw the Leopard man strike Moreau and then everything spun about me until I was running headlong M ling was ahead close in pursuit of the fugitive Behind their tongues already lolling out ran the Wolf women in great leaping strides The Swine folk followed squealing with

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

its being brought to an indefinably attentive stop assured me that he did not know who her father was This I had strongly suspected from Provis s account as Herbert had repeated it of his having kept himself dark which I pieced on to the fact that he himself was not Mr Jaggers s client until some four years later and when he could have no reason for claiming his identity But I could not be sure of this unconsciousness on Mr Jaggers s part before though I was quite sure of it now So You know the young lady

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

overwork at which he laughed hugely I remember him standing in the open doorway bawling good night I shared a cab with the Editor He thought the tale a gaudy lie For my own part I was unable to come to a conclusion The story was so fantastic and incredible the telling so credible and sober I lay awake most of the night thinking about it I determined to go next day and see the Time Traveller again I was told he was in the laboratory and being on easy terms in the house I went up to him The

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

and giddily through a long cresting swell She was on the starboard tack and on the left hand under the arched foot of the foresail I could see the sunset still quite bright This at such an hour of the night surprised me greatly but I was too ignorant to draw the true conclusion that we were going north about round Scotland and were now on the high sea between the Orkney and Shetland Islands having avoided the dangerous currents of the Pentland Firth For my part who had been so long shut in the dark and knew nothing of

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

ll laugh at all these scarecrows like a High School boy at a farce And with that Macfarlane took his departure and drove off up the wynd in his gig to get under cover before daylight Fettes was thus left alone with his regrets He saw the miserable peril in which he stood involved He saw with inexpressible dismay that there was no limit to his weakness and that from concession to concession he had fallen from the arbiter of Macfarlane s destiny to his paid and helpless accomplice He would have given the world to have been a little

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

but tearing her hair and dress in a transport of passion made such a rush at the Jew as would probably have left signal marks of her revenge upon him had not her wrists been seized by Sikes at the right moment upon which she made a few ineffectual struggles and fainted She s all right now said Sikes laying her down in a corner She s uncommon strong in the arms when she s up in this way The Jew wiped his forehead and smiled as if it were a relief to have the disturbance over but neither he

Jane Austen

Emma

himself extremely anxious about her fair friend her fair lovely amiable friend Did she know had she heard any thing about her since their being at Randalls he felt much anxiety he must confess that the nature of her complaint alarmed him considerably And in this style he talked on for some time very properly not much attending to any answer but altogether sufficiently awake to the terror of a bad sore throat and Emma was quite in charity with him But at last there seemed a perverse turn it seemed all at once as if he were more afraid

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

story was written in the snow in front of me There was a double line of tracks of a booted man and a second double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked feet I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the latter was your son The first had walked both ways but the other had run swiftly and as his tread was marked in places over the depression of the boot it was obvious that he had passed after the other I followed them up and found they led to

Jane Austen

Persuasion

Wentworth had not been above four or five times in the Miss Musgroves company and Charles Hayter had but just reappeared when Anne had to listen to the opinions of her brother and sister as to _which_ was the one liked best Charles gave it for Louisa Mary for Henrietta but quite agreeing that to have him marry either could be extremely delightful Charles had never seen a pleasanter man in his life and from what he had once heard Captain Wentworth himself say was very sure that he had not made less than twenty thousand pounds by the war

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

upon the open platform at the top Shoreby Church tower not only commanded the town as in a map but looked far on both sides over sea and land It was now near upon noon the day exceeding bright the snow dazzling And as Dick looked around him he could measure the consequences of the battle A confused growling uproar reached him from the streets and now and then but very rarely the clash of steel Not a ship not so much as a skiff remained in harbour but the sea was dotted with sails and row boats laden with

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

she learned that he had actually written home to defer his return having promised to remain some days longer with his friend If she had felt impatience and regret before if she had been sorry for what she said and feared its too strong effect on him she now felt and feared it all tenfold more She had moreover to contend with one disagreeable emotion entirely new to her jealousy His friend Mr Owen had sisters he might find them attractive But at any rate his staying away at a time when according to all preceding plans she was to

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

wish I had my truncheon said the policeman going irresolutely to the door Once we open in he comes There s no stopping him Don t you be in too much hurry about that door said the anaemic cabman anxiously Draw the bolts said the man with the black beard and if he comes He showed a revolver in his hand That won t do said the policeman that s murder I know what country I m in said the man with the beard I m going to let off at his legs Draw the bolts Not with that blinking

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

whirling flight in the air through the better part of a circle and then dashed straight at Mrs Hall s face Then as swiftly came the sponge from the washstand and then the chair flinging the stranger s coat and trousers carelessly aside and laughing drily in a voice singularly like the stranger s turned itself up with its four legs at Mrs Hall seemed to take aim at her for a moment and charged at her She screamed and turned and then the chair legs came gently but firmly against her back and impelled her and Hall out of

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

you in the solution of some mystery and the punishment of some crime No no No crime said Sherlock Holmes laughing Only one of those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have four million human beings all jostling each other within the space of a few square miles Amid the action and reaction of so dense a swarm of humanity every possible combination of events may be expected to take place and many a little problem will be presented which may be striking and bizarre without being criminal We have already had experience of such So much so

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

assign greater consequence to the clergyman than one has been used to hear given or than I can quite comprehend One does not see much of this influence and importance in society and how can it be acquired where they are so seldom seen themselves How can two sermons a week even supposing them worth hearing supposing the preacher to have the sense to prefer Blair s to his own do all that you speak of govern the conduct and fashion the manners of a large congregation for the rest of the week One scarcely sees a clergyman out of

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

hope and triumph to venture in my new shape as far as to my bedroom I crossed the yard wherein the constellations looked down upon me I could have thought with wonder the first creature of that sort that their unsleeping vigilance had yet disclosed to them I stole through the corridors a stranger in my own house and coming to my room I saw for the first time the appearance of Edward Hyde I must here speak by theory alone saying not that which I know but that which I suppose to be most probable The evil side of

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

want to know I told you three days ago I was awaiting a remittance I told you two days ago I wasn t going to await no remittances You can t grumble if your breakfast waits a bit if my bill s been waiting these five days can you The stranger swore briefly but vividly Nar nar from the bar And I d thank you kindly sir if you d keep your swearing to yourself sir said Mrs Hall The stranger stood looking more like an angry diving helmet than ever It was universally felt in the bar that Mrs

Jane Austen

Persuasion

Louisa for Captain Wentworth nothing could be plainer and where many divisions were necessary or even where they were not they walked side by side nearly as much as the other two In a long strip of meadow land where there was ample space for all they were thus divided forming three distinct parties and to that party of the three which boasted least animation and least complaisance Anne necessarily belonged She joined Charles and Mary and was tired enough to be very glad of Charles s other arm but Charles though in very good humour with her was out

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

before he was out of bed and he had no sooner seen it and been told the circumstances than he shot out a solemn lip I shall say nothing till I have seen the body said he this may be very serious Have the kindness to wait while I dress And with the same grave countenance he hurried through his breakfast and drove to the police station whither the body had been carried As soon as he came into the cell he nodded Yes said he I recognise him I am sorry to say that this is Sir Danvers Carew

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

for a certain very painful reason that will presently be apparent While these things were going on in the parlour and while Mr Huxter was watching Mr Marvel smoking his pipe against the gate not a dozen yards away were Mr Hall and Teddy Henfrey discussing in a state of cloudy puzzlement the one Iping topic Suddenly there came a violent thud against the door of the parlour a sharp cry and then silence Hul lo said Teddy Henfrey Hul lo from the Tap Mr Hall took things in slowly but surely That ain t right he said and came

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

that showed that they were very old hands But now thanks to this lucky chance I think that we have got them right enough But the inspector was mistaken for those criminals were not destined to fall into the hands of justice As we rolled into Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape A house on fire asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off again on its way Yes sir said the station master When

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

We had near fallen foully Jack Ten minutes afterwards they struck into a beaten path Here is a piece of forest that I know not Dick remarked Where goeth me this track Let us even try said Matcham A few yards farther the path came to the top of a ridge and began to go down abruptly into a cup shaped hollow At the foot out of a thick wood of flowering hawthorn two or three roofless gables blackened as if by fire and a single tall chimney marked the ruins of a house What may this be whispered Matcham

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

under a freshening breeze and let these and other strange memories of the last few days chase one another through my mind What could it all mean A locked enclosure on a lonely island a notorious vivisector and these crippled and distorted men VIII THE CRYING OF THE PUMA Montgomery interrupted my tangle of mystification and suspicion about one o clock and his grotesque attendant followed him with a tray bearing bread some herbs and other eatables a flask of whiskey a jug of water and three glasses and knives I glanced askance at this strange creature and found him

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

engine beating again He looked upward and saw two aeroplanes glide shouting far overhead looked back and saw the main body of the fleet opening out and rushing upward and outward saw the one he had struck fall edgewise on and strike like a gigantic knife blade along the wind wheels below it He put down his stern and looked again He drove up heedless of his direction as he watched He saw the wind vanes give saw the huge fabric strike the earth saw its downward vanes crumple with the weight of its descent and then the whole mass

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

or at any other object animate or inanimate that chanced to afford him a pretty good mark at the moment Well Tommy said this gentleman making a thrust at his friend who parried it dexterously with his slipper what s the news A new appearance that s all replied Mr Folair looking at Nicholas Do the honours Tommy do the honours said the other gentleman tapping him reproachfully on the crown of the hat with his stick This is Mr Lenville who does our first tragedy Mr Johnson said the pantomimist Except when old bricks and mortar takes it into

Jane Austen

Emma

hear the hint rose immediately also saying As you are going farther on business sir I will take the opportunity of paying a visit which must be paid some day or other and therefore may as well be paid now I have the honour of being acquainted with a neighbour of yours turning to Emma a lady residing in or near Highbury a family of the name of Fairfax I shall have no difficulty I suppose in finding the house though Fairfax I believe is not the proper name I should rather say Barnes or Bates Do you know any

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

seemed a good deal surprised when he was only to show it to me It was a large long room with some large maps in it I doubt if I could have felt much stranger if the maps had been real foreign countries and I cast away in the middle of them I felt it was taking a liberty to sit down with my cap in my hand on the corner of the chair nearest the door and when the waiter laid a cloth on purpose for me and put a set of castors on it I think I must

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

of all the fantastic things that had happened during the last few days I saw the ugly little Jew of a landlord vociferating in his rooms I saw his two sons marvelling and the wrinkled old woman s gnarled face as she asked for her cat I experienced again the strange sensation of seeing the cloth disappear and so I came round to the windy hillside and the sniffing old clergyman mumbling Earth to earth ashes to ashes dust to dust at my father s open grave You also said a voice and suddenly I was being forced towards the

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

over the world Friction is inevitable here and there of course but your rule is assured You may rest secure with things in Ostrog s hands Would it be possible for me to be made a sworn aeronaut as you call it forthwith before I sleep said Graham pacing Then I could be at it the very first thing to morrow again It would be possible said Lincoln thoughtfully Quite possible Indeed it shall be done He laughed I came prepared to suggest amusements but you have found one for yourself I will telephone to the aeronautical offices from here

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

air and you ve fought a duel Giles Mr Giles who thought this light treatment of the matter an unjust attempt at diminishing his glory answered respectfully that it was not for the like of him to judge about that but he rather thought it was no joke to the opposite party Gad that s true said the doctor Where is he Show me the way I ll look in again as I come down Mrs Maylie That s the little window that he got in at eh Well I couldn t have believed it Talking all the way he

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

the line of the Forth and even Stirling Bridge which is the main pass over that river would be watched with little interest It s a chief principle in military affairs said he to go where ye are least expected Forth is our trouble ye ken the saying Forth bridles the wild Hielandman Well if we seek to creep round about the head of that river and come down by Kippen or Balfron it s just precisely there that they ll be looking to lay hands on us But if we stave on straight to the auld Brig of Stirling

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

to go through an operation without an anaesthetic Ah she will feel nothing poor soul The deep sleep has already come on which is the first working of the poison And then I have given her of our Smyrna opium Come sir for already an hour has passed As they stepped out into the darkness a sheet of rain was driven in upon their faces and the hall lamp which dangled from the arm of a marble Caryatid went out with a fluff Pim the butler pushed the heavy door to straining hard with his shoulder against the wind while

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

stick and looking doubtfully at Smike Twelve long miles repeated the landlord Is it a good road inquired Nicholas Very bad said the landlord As of course being a landlord he would say I want to get on observed Nicholas hesitating I scarcely know what to do Don t let me influence you rejoined the landlord I wouldn t go on if it was me Wouldn t you asked Nicholas with the same uncertainty Not if I knew when I was well off said the landlord And having said it he pulled up his apron put his hands into his

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

the scouts are out and by to morrow night there ll be a cry all through the country He hurried off and walked till he almost dropped upon the ground then lay down in a lane and had a long but broken and uneasy sleep He wandered on again irresolute and undecided and oppressed with the fear of another solitary night Suddenly he took the desperate resolution to going back to London There s somebody to speak to there at all event he thought A good hiding place too They ll never expect to nab me there after this country

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

gone too far in the way of inexplicable services to pause before I see the end It is well replied my visitor Lanyon you remember your vows what follows is under the seal of our profession And now you who have so long been bound to the most narrow and material views you who have denied the virtue of transcendental medicine you who have derided your superiors behold He put the glass to his lips and drank at one gulp A cry followed he reeled staggered clutched at the table and held on staring with injected eyes gasping with open

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

let anyone go to see him I ve got tickets and been The image of the real one as the photographs show him this substitute used to be Yellow But he ll get fed up It s a queer world Think of the luck of it The luck of it I expect he ll be sent to Capri It s the best fun for a greener His cough overtook him again Then he began mumbling enviously of pleasures and strange delights The luck of it the luck of it All my life I ve been in London hoping to get

Jane Austen

Persuasion

upon that bias build every circumstance in favour of it which has occurred within our own circle many of which circumstances perhaps those very cases which strike us the most may be precisely such as cannot be brought forward without betraying a confidence or in some respect saying what should not be said Ah cried Captain Harville in a tone of strong feeling if I could but make you comprehend what a man suffers when he takes a last look at his wife and children and watches the boat that he has sent them off in as long as it

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

to see the fierce brutes with foaming mouths and glaring eyes rushing and grasping but forever missing their elusive enemies while arrow after arrow buried itself in their hides One great fellow ran past me roaring with pain with a dozen darts sticking from his chest and ribs In mercy I put a bullet through his skull and he fell sprawling among the aloes But this was the only shot fired for the attack had been on the center of the line and the Indians there had needed no help of ours in repulsing it Of all the ape men

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

they stopped a trollopy looking maidservant seemingly in waiting for them at the door stepped forward and more intent on telling the news than giving them any help immediately began with The Thrush is gone out of harbour please sir and one of the officers has been here to She was interrupted by a fine tall boy of eleven years old who rushing out of the house pushed the maid aside and while William was opening the chaise door himself called out You are just in time We have been looking for you this half hour The Thrush went out

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

the story book is said to have taken the old lady and seat him on the fire One thing was manifest to both of us and that was that until relief came neither of us could relinquish the fire There we stood well squared up before it shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot with our hands behind us not budging an inch The horse was visible outside in the drizzle at the door my breakfast was put on the table Drummle s was cleared away the waiter invited me to begin I nodded we both stood our ground Have

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

side to the north It was much of the same red as soldiers coats every now and then too there came little sparks and lightnings as though the sun had struck upon bright steel I asked my boatman what it should be and he answered he supposed it was some of the red soldiers coming from Fort William into Appin against the poor tenantry of the country Well it was a sad sight to me and whether it was because of my thoughts of Alan or from something prophetic in my bosom although this was but the second time I

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

weak heart during the voyage and that his symptoms were consistent with such a death as was described As to Dr Aloysius Lana he returned to the village from which he had made so dramatic a disappearance and a complete reconciliation was effected between him and the young squire the latter having acknowledged that he had entirely misunderstood the other s motives in withdrawing from his engagement That another reconciliation followed may be judged from a notice extracted from a prominent column in the Morning Post A marriage was solemnized upon September 19th by the Rev Stephen Johnson at the

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

name of the flaxen haired man came in again as I stood there and I asked him for some clothes He lent me some duck things of his own for those I had worn in the boat had been thrown overboard They were rather loose for me for he was large and long in his limbs He told me casually that the captain was three parts drunk in his own cabin As I assumed the clothes I began asking him some questions about the destination of the ship He said the ship was bound to Hawaii but that it had

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

I was as quick as he and jumping upon him the two of us fell off the footboard and rolled in each other s arms down a steep embankment At the bottom I struck my head against a stone and I remembered nothing more When I came to myself I was lying among some low bushes not far from the railroad track and somebody was bathing my head with a wet handkerchief It was Sparrow MacCoy I guess I couldn t leave you said he I didn t want to have the blood of two of you on my hands

Jane Austen

Persuasion

And there was silence between them for a little while Anne could not immediately fall into a quotation again The sweet scenes of autumn were for a while put by unless some tender sonnet fraught with the apt analogy of the declining year with declining happiness and the images of youth and hope and spring all gone together blessed her memory She roused herself to say as they struck by order into another path Is not this one of the ways to Winthrop But nobody heard or at least nobody answered her Winthrop however or its environs for young men

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

More wise than those who go on until the wheel turns against them he realised his gains and returned to England with them It is only two years since he took up his residence at Baskerville Hall and it is common talk how large were those schemes of reconstruction and improvement which have been interrupted by his death Being himself childless it was his openly expressed desire that the whole countryside should within his own lifetime profit by his good fortune and many will have personal reasons for bewailing his untimely end His generous donations to local and county charities

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

calmed my spirits and eased my heart There were the old signs the old names over the shops the old people serving in them It appeared so long since I had been a schoolboy there that I wondered the place was so little changed until I reflected how little I was changed myself Strange to say that quiet influence which was inseparable in my mind from Agnes seemed to pervade even the city where she dwelt The venerable cathedral towers and the old jackdaws and rooks whose airy voices made them more retired than perfect silence would have done the

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

you re just thin air I m not one of your ignorant tramps Yes I am thin air You re looking through me What Ain t there any stuff to you _Vox et_ what is it jabber Is it that I am just a human being solid needing food and drink needing covering too But I m invisible You see Invisible Simple idea Invisible What real like Yes real Let s have a hand of you said Marvel if you _are_ real It won t be so darn out of the way like then _Lord_ he said how you made