Datasets:

Qilex

/

small_author_dataset

like 0

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

in the High Street at no distance from the station and there we found the young lady waiting for us She had engaged a sitting room and our lunch awaited us upon the table I am so delighted that you have come she said earnestly It is so very kind of you both but indeed I do not know what I should do Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me Pray tell us what has happened to you I will do so and I must be quick for I have promised Mr Rucastle to be back before three I

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

distinguish the dapper shape and jaunty walk of the naturalist He stopped when he saw us and then came on again Why Dr Watson that s not you is it You are the last man that I should have expected to see out on the moor at this time of night But dear me what s this Somebody hurt Not don t tell me that it is our friend Sir Henry He hurried past me and stooped over the dead man I heard a sharp intake of his breath and the cigar fell from his fingers Who who s this

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

boat where I see a light yonder That s the boat said I And it s the same I saw this morning he returned I came straight to it by instinct I suppose We said no more as we approached the light but made softly for the door I laid my hand upon the latch and whispering Steerforth to keep close to me went in A murmur of voices had been audible on the outside and at the moment of our entrance a clapping of hands which latter noise I was surprised to see proceeded from the generally disconsolate Mrs

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

and pairs of trousers dangling from the low ceiling and only two feeble candles burning inside to show what they were I fancied that he looked like a man of a revengeful disposition who had hung all his enemies and was enjoying himself My late experiences with Mr and Mrs Micawber suggested to me that here might be a means of keeping off the wolf for a little while I went up the next by street took off my waistcoat rolled it neatly under my arm and came back to the shop door If you please sir I said I

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

him where he could do no harm The first problem was how to get a medical man into his house I bethought me of his interest in beetles and his love for anyone who shared his tastes I advertised therefore and was fortunate enough to find in you the very man I wanted A stout companion was necessary for I knew that the lunacy could only be proved by a murderous assault and I had every reason to believe that that assault would be made upon myself since he had the warmest regard for me in his moments of sanity

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

avoid it rejoined Rose but indeed I have tried very hard and cannot help this I fear I _am_ ill aunt She was indeed for when candles were brought they saw that in the very short time which had elapsed since their return home the hue of her countenance had changed to a marble whiteness Its expression had lost nothing of its beauty but it was changed and there was an anxious haggard look about the gentle face which it had never worn before Another minute and it was suffused with a crimson flush and a heavy wildness came over

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

that can ever come to fruit or flower What Julia calls society I see among it Mr Jack Maldon from his Patent Place sneering at the hand that gave it him and speaking to me of the Doctor as so charmingly antique But when society is the name for such hollow gentlemen and ladies Julia and when its breeding is professed indifference to everything that can advance or can retard mankind I think we must have lost ourselves in that same Desert of Sahara and had better find the way out And lo the Doctor always our good friend labouring

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

roared the captain Montgomery and his companion turned as he spoke What do you mean I said That way Mister Blasted Shut up that s what I mean Overboard Mister Shut up and sharp We re cleaning the ship out cleaning the whole blessed ship out and overboard you go I stared at him dumfounded Then it occurred to me that it was exactly the thing I wanted The lost prospect of a journey as sole passenger with this quarrelsome sot was not one to mourn over I turned towards Montgomery Can t have you said Montgomery s companion concisely

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

That s the worst of it Mr Holmes I don t know Where did he live then He slept on the premises And you don t know his address No except that it was Leadenhall Street Where did you address your letters then To the Leadenhall Street Post Office to be left till called for He said that if they were sent to the office he would be chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady so I offered to typewrite them like he did his but he wouldn t have that for he said that

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

if it has gone anywhere he said Why said the Time Traveller Because I presume that it has not moved in space and if it travelled into the future it would still be here all this time since it must have travelled through this time But said I If it travelled into the past it would have been visible when we came first into this room and last Thursday when we were here and the Thursday before that and so forth Serious objections remarked the Provincial Mayor with an air of impartiality turning towards the Time Traveller Not a bit

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

their seats with an activity which took their brother by surprise and hurrying off as if eager to escape from Mrs Bennet s civilities The prospect of the Netherfield ball was extremely agreeable to every female of the family Mrs Bennet chose to consider it as given in compliment to her eldest daughter and was particularly flattered by receiving the invitation from Mr Bingley himself instead of a ceremonious card Jane pictured to herself a happy evening in the society of her two friends and the attentions of their brother and Elizabeth thought with pleasure of dancing a great deal

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

Mojo Indians from Bolivia who are the most skilful at fishing and boat work of all the river tribes The chief of these we called Mojo after his tribe and the others are known as Jose and Fernando Three white men then two half breeds one negro and three Indians made up the personnel of the little expedition which lay waiting for its instructions at Manaos before starting upon its singular quest At last after a weary week the day had come and the hour I ask you to picture the shaded sitting room of the Fazenda St Ignatio two

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

And abroad they want to see you Paris New York Chicago Denver Capri thousands of cities are up and in a tumult undecided and clamouring to see you They have clamoured that you should be awakened for years and now it is done they will scarcely believe But surely I can t go Ostrog answered from the other side of the room and the picture on the oval disc paled and vanished as the light jerked back again There are kineto telephoto graphs he said As you bow to the people here all over the world myriads of myriads of

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

the engagement was at an end that Dr Lana had behaved shamefully to the young lady and that Arthur Morton her brother was talking of horse whipping him In what particular respect the doctor had behaved badly was unknown some surmised one thing and some another but it was observed and taken as the obvious sign of a guilty conscience that he would go for miles round rather than pass the windows of Leigh Hall and that he gave up attending morning service upon Sundays where he might have met the young lady There was an advertisement also in the

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

all the credit When Mr Collins could be forgotten there was really an air of great comfort throughout and by Charlotte s evident enjoyment of it Elizabeth supposed he must be often forgotten She had already learnt that Lady Catherine was still in the country It was spoken of again while they were at dinner when Mr Collins joining in observed Yes Miss Elizabeth you will have the honour of seeing Lady Catherine de Bourgh on the ensuing Sunday at church and I need not say you will be delighted with her She is all affability and condescension and I

Jane Austen

Emma

every point but one and that one since the purity of her heart is not to be doubted such as must increase his felicity for it will be his to bestow the only advantages she wants A man would always wish to give a woman a better home than the one he takes her from and he who can do it where there is no doubt of _her_ regard must I think be the happiest of mortals Frank Churchill is indeed the favourite of fortune Every thing turns out for his good He meets with a young woman at a

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

in Miss Havisham No In some of her looks and gestures there was that tinge of resemblance to Miss Havisham which may often be noticed to have been acquired by children from grown person with whom they have been much associated and secluded and which when childhood is passed will produce a remarkable occasional likeness of expression between faces that are otherwise quite different And yet I could not trace this to Miss Havisham I looked again and though she was still looking at me the suggestion was gone What _was_ it I am serious said Estella not so much

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

the Psychologist himself who sent forth the model Time Machine on its interminable voyage We all saw the lever turn I am absolutely certain there was no trickery There was a breath of wind and the lamp flame jumped One of the candles on the mantel was blown out and the little machine suddenly swung round became indistinct was seen as a ghost for a second perhaps as an eddy of faintly glittering brass and ivory and it was gone vanished Save for the lamp the table was bare Everyone was silent for a minute Then Filby said he was

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

the family And with a bow to Mr Darcy he concluded his speech which had been spoken so loud as to be heard by half the room Many stared many smiled but no one looked more amused than Mr Bennet himself while his wife seriously commended Mr Collins for having spoken so sensibly and observed in a half whisper to Lady Lucas that he was a remarkably clever good kind of young man To Elizabeth it appeared that had her family made an agreement to expose themselves as much as they could during the evening it would have been impossible

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

door of another room Brother Ned said Mr Cheeryble tapping with his knuckles and stooping to listen are you busy my dear brother or can you spare time for a word or two with me Brother Charles my dear fellow replied a voice from the inside so like in its tones to that which had just spoken that Nicholas started and almost thought it was the same don t ask me such a question but come in directly They went in without further parley What was the amazement of Nicholas when his conductor advanced and exchanged a warm greeting with

Jane Austen

Emma

weather soon improved enough for those to move who must move and Mr Woodhouse having as usual tried to persuade his daughter to stay behind with all her children was obliged to see the whole party set off and return to his lamentations over the destiny of poor Isabella which poor Isabella passing her life with those she doated on full of their merits blind to their faults and always innocently busy might have been a model of right feminine happiness The evening of the very day on which they went brought a note from Mr Elton to Mr Woodhouse

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

butcher s cleaver in the other I rushed across the bedroom flung open the window and looked out How quiet and sweet and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight and it could not be more than thirty feet down I clambered out upon the sill but I hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me If she were ill used then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at the door pushing

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

other come back again but I wish you both well and I wish you happy Ham echoed this sentiment and we parted with them in the heartiest manner I was almost tempted that evening to tell Steerforth about pretty little Em ly but I was too timid of mentioning her name and too much afraid of his laughing at me I remember that I thought a good deal and in an uneasy sort of way about Mr Peggotty having said that she was getting on to be a woman but I decided that was nonsense We transported the shellfish or

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

house himself the following winter that he might have a home of his own in that neighbourhood and it was not merely for the use of it in the hunting season as he was then telling her though _that_ consideration had certainly some weight feeling as he did that in spite of all Dr Grant s very great kindness it was impossible for him and his horses to be accommodated where they now were without material inconvenience but his attachment to that neighbourhood did not depend upon one amusement or one season of the year he had set his heart

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

down the middle and a profusion of flat circular curls on both sides encouraged the idea The better informed among the sex however made light of this assertion for however willing they were and they were very willing to do full justice to the handsome face and figure of the proprietor they held the countenance of the dark gentleman in the window to be an exquisite and abstract idea of masculine beauty realised sometimes perhaps among angels and military men but very rarely embodied to gladden the eyes of mortals It was to this establishment that Newman Noggs led Miss

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

Lady Bertram nor Tom had received from her the smallest support or attempt at support She had done no more for them than they had done for each other They had been all solitary helpless and forlorn alike and now the arrival of the others only established her superiority in wretchedness Her companions were relieved but there was no good for _her_ Edmund was almost as welcome to his brother as Fanny to her aunt but Mrs Norris instead of having comfort from either was but the more irritated by the sight of the person whom in the blindness of

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

than yours or mine he remarked and bowing in a stately old fashioned manner he departed It is very good of Lord St Simon to honour my head by putting it on a level with his own said Sherlock Holmes laughing I think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all this cross questioning I had formed my conclusions as to the case before our client came into the room My dear Holmes I have notes of several similar cases though none as I remarked before which were quite as prompt My whole examination served

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

the sun went streaming out of the sky was drawn aside like some luminous curtain and at last I looked into the blue gulf of immensity which the sunshine hides and saw the floating hosts of the stars The sea was silent the sky was silent I was alone with the night and silence So I drifted for three days eating and drinking sparingly and meditating upon all that had happened to me not desiring very greatly then to see men again One unclean rag was about me my hair a black tangle no doubt my discoverers thought me a

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

an hour There was a slamming of doors a ringing of bells and the voice of Mr Heelas bellowing like a bull Shut the doors shut the windows shut everything the Invisible Man is coming Instantly the house was full of screams and directions and scurrying feet He ran himself to shut the French windows that opened on the veranda as he did so Kemp s head and shoulders and knee appeared over the edge of the garden fence In another moment Kemp had ploughed through the asparagus and was running across the tennis lawn to the house You can

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

her understand his character Not as you represent it Had she merely _dined_ with him she might only have discovered whether he had a good appetite but you must remember that four evenings have also been spent together and four evenings may do a great deal Yes these four evenings have enabled them to ascertain that they both like Vingt un better than Commerce but with respect to any other leading characteristic I do not imagine that much has been unfolded Well said Charlotte I wish Jane success with all my heart and if she were married to him to

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

was expecting to find him here At that I understood At the risk of disappointing Richardson I stayed on waiting for the Time Traveller waiting for the second perhaps still stranger story and the specimens and photographs he would bring with him But I am beginning now to fear that I must wait a lifetime The Time Traveller vanished three years ago And as everybody knows now he has never returned Epilogue One cannot choose but wonder Will he ever return It may be that he swept back into the past and fell among the blood drinking hairy savages of

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

was flung over and the wash hand stand tumbler smashed Kemp hurried upstairs and rapped eagerly CHAPTER XIX CERTAIN FIRST PRINCIPLES What s the matter asked Kemp when the Invisible Man admitted him Nothing was the answer But confound it The smash Fit of temper said the Invisible Man Forgot this arm and it s sore You re rather liable to that sort of thing I am Kemp walked across the room and picked up the fragments of broken glass All the facts are out about you said Kemp standing up with the glass in his hand all that happened

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

Lydia was occasionally a visitor there when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath and with the Bingleys they both of them frequently staid so long that even Bingley s good humour was overcome and he proceeded so far as to _talk_ of giving them a hint to be gone Miss Bingley was very deeply mortified by Darcy s marriage but as she thought it advisable to retain the right of visiting at Pemberley she dropt all her resentment was fonder than ever of Georgiana almost as attentive to Darcy as heretofore and paid off every

Jane Austen

Emma

take place Mrs Weston was acting no part feigning no feelings in all that she said to him in favour of the event She had been extremely surprized never more so than when Emma first opened the affair to her but she saw in it only increase of happiness to all and had no scruple in urging him to the utmost She had such a regard for Mr Knightley as to think he deserved even her dearest Emma and it was in every respect so proper suitable and unexceptionable a connexion and in one respect one point of the highest

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

chambers of birth and death of health and sickness the rigid face of the corpse and the calm sleep of the child midnight was upon them all The hour had not struck two minutes when a young lady accompanied by a grey haired gentleman alighted from a hackney carriage within a short distance of the bridge and having dismissed the vehicle walked straight towards it They had scarcely set foot upon its pavement when the girl started and immediately made towards them They walked onward looking about them with the air of persons who entertained some very slight expectation which

Jane Austen

Persuasion

very few days more of doubt and indecision the great question of whither he should go was settled and the first outline of this important change made out There had been three alternatives London Bath or another house in the country All Anne s wishes had been for the latter A small house in their own neighbourhood where they might still have Lady Russell s society still be near Mary and still have the pleasure of sometimes seeing the lawns and groves of Kellynch was the object of her ambition But the usual fate of Anne attended her in having

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

which is round will likely please ye best at the first off go but O Davie laddie it s but a drop of water in the sea it ll help you but a step and vanish like the morning The second which is flat and square and written upon will stand by you through life like a good staff for the road and a good pillow to your head in sickness And as for the last which is cubical that ll see you it s my prayerful wish into a better land With that he got upon his feet took

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

the flags they found the key already stained with rust This does not look like use observed the lawyer Use echoed Poole Do you not see sir it is broken much as if a man had stamped on it Ay continued Utterson and the fractures too are rusty The two men looked at each other with a scare This is beyond me Poole said the lawyer Let us go back to the cabinet They mounted the stair in silence and still with an occasional awestruck glance at the dead body proceeded more thoroughly to examine the contents of the cabinet

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

left the door open behind him I followed as softly as I could and coming unheard into the kitchen stood and watched him He had found time to open the corner cupboard and bring out a great case bottle of aqua vitae and now sat with his back towards me at the table Ever and again he would be seized with a fit of deadly shuddering and groan aloud and carrying the bottle to his lips drink down the raw spirits by the mouthful I stepped forward came close behind him where he sat and suddenly clapping my two hands

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

addressing his class He had swung round his revolving chair so as to face me and he sat all puffed out like an enormous bull frog his head laid back and his eyes half covered by supercilious lids Now he suddenly turned himself sideways and all I could see of him was tangled hair with a red protruding ear He was scratching about among the litter of papers upon his desk He faced me presently with what looked like a very tattered sketch book in his hand I am going to talk to you about South America said he No

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

came the horrible part of the thing for the man trampled calmly over the child s body and left her screaming on the ground It sounds nothing to hear but it was hellish to see It wasn t like a man it was like some damned Juggernaut I gave a few halloa took to my heels collared my gentleman and brought him back to where there was already quite a group about the screaming child He was perfectly cool and made no resistance but gave me one look so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

he could only obey her In the porch finding she was close behind him he ventured to pause and whisper You have done right I have done as I pleased she said Can he paint Many people like his paintings returned Dick in stifled tones I never did I never said I did he added fiercely defending himself before he was attacked I ask you if he can paint I will not be put off _Can_ he paint she repeated No said Dick Does he even like it Not now I believe And he is drunk she leaned upon the

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

pronouns and even the verb to eat But it was slow work and the little people soon tired and wanted to get away from my interrogations so I determined rather of necessity to let them give their lessons in little doses when they felt inclined And very little doses I found they were before long for I never met people more indolent or more easily fatigued VI The Sunset of Mankind A queer thing I soon discovered about my little hosts and that was their lack of interest They would come to me with eager cries of astonishment like children

Charles Dickens

Nicholas Nickleby

mentioned here I presume Yes I am sir replied the worthy pedagogue Mr Wackford Squeers is my name and I m very far from being ashamed of it These are some of my boys sir that s one of my assistants sir Mr Nickleby a gentleman s son and a good scholar mathematical classical and commercial We don t do things by halves at our shop All manner of learning my boys take down sir the expense is never thought of and they get paternal treatment and washing in Upon my word said the gentleman glancing at Nicholas with a

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

moor only was printed in ink Now said Sir Henry Baskerville perhaps you will tell me Mr Holmes what in thunder is the meaning of that and who it is that takes so much interest in my affairs What do you make of it Dr Mortimer You must allow that there is nothing supernatural about this at any rate No sir but it might very well come from someone who was convinced that the business is supernatural What business asked Sir Henry sharply It seems to me that all you gentlemen know a great deal more than I do about

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

wish to place upon record here our gratitude to all our friends upon the Amazon for the very great kindness and hospitality which was shown to us upon our return journey Very particularly would I thank Senhor Penalosa and other officials of the Brazilian Government for the special arrangements by which we were helped upon our way and Senhor Pereira of Para to whose forethought we owe the complete outfit for a decent appearance in the civilized world which we found ready for us at that town It seemed a poor return for all the courtesy which we encountered that

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

I decided to inspect the clothes before I did anything further and my first attempt brought down a pile from an upper shelf This brought him back more sinister than ever That time he actually touched me jumped back with amazement and stood astonished in the middle of the room Presently he calmed a little Rats he said in an undertone fingers on lips He was evidently a little scared I edged quietly out of the room but a plank creaked Then the infernal little brute started going all over the house revolver in hand and locking door after door

Jane Austen

Emma

has restored her in a wonderful short time Oh if you had seen her as I did when she was at the worst And when Mrs Bates was saying something to Emma whispered farther We do not say a word of any _assistance_ that Perry might have not a word of a certain young physician from Windsor Oh no Perry shall have all the credit I have scarce had the pleasure of seeing you Miss Woodhouse she shortly afterwards began since the party to Box Hill Very pleasant party But yet I think there was something wanting Things did not

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

the straw makes trouble put it down in the bill And he mumbled at her words suspiciously like curses He was so odd standing there so aggressive and explosive bottle in one hand and test tube in the other that Mrs Hall was quite alarmed But she was a resolute woman In which case I should like to know sir what you consider A shilling put down a shilling Surely a shilling s enough So be it said Mrs Hall taking up the table cloth and beginning to spread it over the table If you re satisfied of course He

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

would hold out a devil of a time in point of provisions Then he conducted me to a bower about a dozen yards off but which was approached by such ingenious twists of path that it took quite a long time to get at and in this retreat our glasses were already set forth Our punch was cooling in an ornamental lake on whose margin the bower was raised This piece of water with an island in the middle which might have been the salad for supper was of a circular form and he had constructed a fountain in it

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

cried a voice And there between the huge stems not fifty feet before them they beheld a stout fellow in green sore blown with running who instantly drew an arrow to the head and covered them Matcham stopped with a cry but Dick without a pause ran straight upon the forester drawing his dagger as he went The other whether he was startled by the daring of the onslaught or whether he was hampered by his orders did not shoot he stood wavering and before he had time to come to himself Dick bounded at his throat and sent him

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

Oh yes I know all about it replied the girl laughing hysterically and shaking her head from side to side with a poor assumption of indifference Well then keep quiet rejoined Sikes with a growl like that he was accustomed to use when addressing his dog or I ll quiet you for a good long time to come The girl laughed again even less composedly than before and darting a hasty look at Sikes turned her face aside and bit her lip till the blood came You re a nice one added Sikes as he surveyed her with a contemptuous

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

about the straws And then he woke again to his detested fate and found himself sitting humped together in a windy combe of quarry refuse darkness thick about him thin flakes of snow flying here and there like rags of paper and the strong shuddering of his body clashing his teeth like a hiccough We have seen John in nothing but the stormiest condition we have seen him reckless desperate tried beyond his moderate powers of his daily self cheerful regular not unthrifty we have seen nothing and it may thus be a surprise to the reader to learn that

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

business of some moment and I understood He paused and put his hand to his throat and I could see in spite of his collected manner that he was wrestling against the approaches of the hysteria I understood a drawer But here I took pity on my visitor s suspense and some perhaps on my own growing curiosity There it is sir said I pointing to the drawer where it lay on the floor behind a table and still covered with the sheet He sprang to it and then paused and laid his hand upon his heart I could hear

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

Almighty he cried That is Jane Galbraith The men answered nothing but they shuffled nearer the door I know her I tell you he continued She was alive and hearty yesterday It s impossible she can be dead it s impossible you should have got this body fairly Sure sir you re mistaken entirely said one of the men But the other looked Fettes darkly in the eyes and demanded the money on the spot It was impossible to misconceive the threat or to exaggerate the danger The lad s heart failed him He stammered some excuses counted out the

Jane Austen

Persuasion

it and then Miss Elliot was spoken of in the highest terms Now Mary I declare it was so I heard it myself and you were in the other room Elegance sweetness beauty Oh there was no end of Miss Elliot s charms And I am sure cried Mary warmly it was a very little to his credit if he did Miss Harville only died last June Such a heart is very little worth having is it Lady Russell I am sure you will agree with me I must see Captain Benwick before I decide said Lady Russell smiling And

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

and closed the door behind him John stood amazed then he shook the bottle and to his further wonder found it partly empty Three or four glasses were gone Alan must have uncorked a bottle of whisky and drank three or four glasses one after the other without sitting down for there was no chair and that in his own cold lobby on this freezing night It fully explained his eccentricities John reflected sagely as he mixed himself a grog Poor Alan He was drunk and what a dreadful thing was drink and what a slave to it poor Alan

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

watching us I mentioned it to you Professor Challenger Our young friend certainly said something of the kind He is also the one among us who is endowed with that Celtic temperament which would make him sensitive to such impressions The whole theory of telepathy began Summerlee filling his pipe Is too vast to be now discussed said Challenger with decision Tell me now he added with the air of a bishop addressing a Sunday school did you happen to observe whether the creature could cross its thumb over its palm No indeed Had it a tail No Was the

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

and tatter clappermaclaw kind of a look to ye as if ye had stolen the coat from a potato bogle Come right about and back to the change house for that boat of ours I followed him laughing David Balfour said he ye re a very funny gentleman by your way of it and this is a very funny employ for ye no doubt For all that if ye have any affection for my neck to say nothing of your own ye will perhaps be kind enough to take this matter responsibly I am going to do a bit of

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

campaign founded upon my observations of last night I will not speak about it just now but it should make my next report interesting reading Chapter 9 The Light upon the Moor Second Report of Dr Watson Baskerville Hall Oct 15th MY DEAR HOLMES If I was compelled to leave you without much news during the early days of my mission you must acknowledge that I am making up for lost time and that events are now crowding thick and fast upon us In my last report I ended upon my top note with Barrymore at the window and now

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

What was to be done If he lost touch of Lawless for the night he was left impotent whether to plan or carry forth Joanna s rescue If on the other hand he dared to address the drunken outlaw the spy might still be lingering within sight and the most fatal consequences ensue It was nevertheless upon this last hazard that Dick decided Slipping from behind the tapestry he stood ready in the doorway of the chamber with a warning hand upraised Lawless flushed crimson with his eyes injected vacillating on his feet drew still unsteadily nearer At last he

Jane Austen

Emma

Kindled a flame I yet deplore The hood wink d boy I called to aid Though of his near approach afraid So fatal to my suit before And that is all that I can recollect of it but it is very clever all the way through But I think my dear you said you had got it Yes papa it is written out in our second page We copied it from the Elegant Extracts It was Garrick s you know Aye very true I wish I could recollect more of it Kitty a fair but frozen maid The name makes

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

peace before the stomach will conduct itself with vigour On the occasion of this domestic little party I did not repeat my former extensive preparations I merely provided a pair of soles a small leg of mutton and a pigeon pie Mrs Crupp broke out into rebellion on my first bashful hint in reference to the cooking of the fish and joint and said with a dignified sense of injury No No sir You will not ask me sich a thing for you are better acquainted with me than to suppose me capable of doing what I cannot do with

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

little my life and one that I can never pay you for this victory Catesby if I had ten such captains as Sir Richard I would march forthright on London But now sir claim your reward Freely my lord said Dick freely and loudly One hath escaped to whom I owe some grudges and taken with him one whom I owe love and service Give me then fifty lances that I may pursue and for any obligation that your graciousness is pleased to allow it shall be clean discharged How call ye him inquired the duke Sir Daniel Brackley answered

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

chiefly another bovine chiefly but each was tainted with other creatures a kind of generalised animalism appearing through the specific dispositions And the dwindling shreds of the humanity still startled me every now and then a momentary recrudescence of speech perhaps an unexpected dexterity of the fore feet a pitiful attempt to walk erect I too must have undergone strange changes My clothes hung about me as yellow rags through whose rents showed the tanned skin My hair grew long and became matted together I am told that even now my eyes have a strange brightness a swift alertness of

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

Coutts s drawn payable to bearer and signed with a name that I can t mention though it s one of the points of my story but it was a name at least very well known and often printed The figure was stiff but the signature was good for more than that if it was only genuine I took the liberty of pointing out to my gentleman that the whole business looked apocryphal and that a man does not in real life walk into a cellar door at four in the morning and come out with another man s cheque

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

man s cruelty at once so callous and violent of his vile life of his strange associates of the hatred that seemed to have surrounded his career but of his present whereabouts not a whisper From the time he had left the house in Soho on the morning of the murder he was simply blotted out and gradually as time drew on Mr Utterson began to recover from the hotness of his alarm and to grow more at quiet with himself The death of Sir Danvers was to his way of thinking more than paid for by the disappearance of

Jane Austen

Emma

much to wonder that she had ever thought him pleasing at all and his sight was so inseparably connected with some very disagreeable feelings that except in a moral light as a penance a lesson a source of profitable humiliation to her own mind she would have been thankful to be assured of never seeing him again She wished him very well but he gave her pain and his welfare twenty miles off would administer most satisfaction The pain of his continued residence in Highbury however must certainly be lessened by his marriage Many vain solicitudes would be prevented many

Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice

I am resigned Perhaps not the less so from feeling a doubt of my positive happiness had my fair cousin honoured me with her hand for I have often observed that resignation is never so perfect as when the blessing denied begins to lose somewhat of its value in our estimation You will not I hope consider me as showing any disrespect to your family my dear madam by thus withdrawing my pretensions to your daughter s favour without having paid yourself and Mr Bennet the compliment of requesting you to interpose your authority in my behalf My conduct may

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

promise me that you will bear with him and get his rights for him I think you would if you knew all and it would be a weight off my mind if you would promise I can t pretend that I shall ever like him said the lawyer I don t ask that pleaded Jekyll laying his hand upon the other s arm I only ask for justice I only ask you to help him for my sake when I am no longer here Utterson heaved an irrepressible sigh Well said he I promise THE CAREW MURDER CASE Nearly a

H.G. Wells

Invisible Man

of the curate and the Misses Cuss and Sackbut No doubt there was a slight uneasiness in the air but people for the most part had the sense to conceal whatever imaginative qualms they experienced On the village green an inclined strong rope down which clinging the while to a pulley swung handle one could be hurled violently against a sack at the other end came in for considerable favour among the adolescents as also did the swings and the cocoanut shies There was also promenading and the steam organ attached to a small roundabout filled the air with a

Robert Louis Stevenson

The Black Arrow

and arrow I will prove my manhood on your body Nay I am no fighter said Matcham eagerly I mean no tittle of offence I meant but pleasantry And if I talk of women it is because I heard ye were to marry I to marry Dick exclaimed Well it is the first I hear of it And with whom was I to marry One Joan Sedley replied Matcham colouring It was Sir Daniel s doing he hath money to gain upon both sides and indeed I have heard the poor wench bemoaning herself pitifully of the match It seems

Jane Austen

Persuasion

be brought to the proof former times must undoubtedly be brought to the recollection of each _they_ could not but be reverted to the year of their engagement could not but be named by him in the little narratives or descriptions which conversation called forth His profession qualified him his disposition lead him to talk and _That_ was in the year six _That_ happened before I went to sea in the year six occurred in the course of the first evening they spent together and though his voice did not falter and though she had no reason to suppose his

Jane Austen

Emma

in good hands like his might be easily led aright and turn out very well The advantage of the match I felt to be all on her side and had not the smallest doubt nor have I now that there would be a general cry out upon her extreme good luck Even _your_ satisfaction I made sure of It crossed my mind immediately that you would not regret your friend s leaving Highbury for the sake of her being settled so well I remember saying to myself Even Emma with all her partiality for Harriet will think this a good

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

done so I have a confused memory too of having been lifted and conveyed somewhere What I cannot understand said I is why they should have spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman s entreaties I hardly think that likely I never saw a more inexorable face in my life Oh we shall soon clear up all that said Bradstreet Well I have drawn my circle and I only wish I knew at what point upon it the folk that we are in search of are to be

Jane Austen

Persuasion

Dalrymple and Miss Carteret they would soon be innoxious cousins to her She cared not for Mrs Clay and had nothing to blush for in the public manners of her father and sister With the Musgroves there was the happy chat of perfect ease with Captain Harville the kind hearted intercourse of brother and sister with Lady Russell attempts at conversation which a delicious consciousness cut short with Admiral and Mrs Croft everything of peculiar cordiality and fervent interest which the same consciousness sought to conceal and with Captain Wentworth some moments of communications continually occurring and always the hope

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

of interest Pshaw my dear fellow what do the public the great unobservant public who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a compositor by his left thumb care about the finer shades of analysis and deduction But indeed if you are trivial I cannot blame you for the days of the great cases are past Man or at least criminal man has lost all enterprise and originality As to my own little practice it seems to be degenerating into an agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to young ladies from boarding schools I think

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

so well as you I am convinced said Dick And so am I returned Van Tromp gaily Paris My young friend you will allow me when you know Paris as I do you will have seen Strange Things I say no more all I say is Strange Things We are men of the world you and I and in Paris in the heart of civilised existence This is an opportunity Mr Naseby Let us dine Let me show you where to dine Dick consented On the way to dinner the Admiral showed him where to buy gloves and made him

Robert Louis Stevenson

Tales and Fantasies

he could not but reflect here is another link in the Judicial Error The driver on the other hand was pleased to drop again upon so liberal a fare and as he was a man the reader must already have perceived of easy not to say familiar manners he dropped at once into a vein of friendly talk commenting on the weather on the sacred season which struck him chiefly in the light of a day of liberal gratuities on the chance which had reunited him to a pleasing customer and on the fact that John had been as he

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

received him and took his education in hand He was quick to learn very imitative and adaptive and built himself a hovel rather better it seemed to me than their own shanties There was one among the boys a bit of a missionary and he taught the thing to read or at least to pick out letters and gave him some rudimentary ideas of morality but it seems the beast s habits were not all that is desirable I rested from work for some days after this and was in a mind to write an account of the whole affair

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

cabin and were busy with some papers I saw them quite hard at work when I looked down through the open skylight They left me during this time with a very nice man with a very large head of red hair and a very small shiny hat upon it who had got a cross barred shirt or waistcoat on with Skylark in capital letters across the chest I thought it was his name and that as he lived on board ship and hadn t a street door to put his name on he put it there instead but when I

Arthur Conan Doyle

Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

and his wife Toller for that is his name is a rough uncouth man with grizzled hair and whiskers and a perpetual smell of drink Twice since I have been with them he has been quite drunk and yet Mr Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face as silent as Mrs Rucastle and much less amiable They are a most unpleasant couple but fortunately I spend most of my time in the nursery and my own room which are next to each other in one corner

Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

disagreeable and all his actions were uncouth noisy and greedy Some of his teeth had failed him since I saw him eat on the marshes and as he turned his food in his mouth and turned his head sideways to bring his strongest fangs to bear upon it he looked terribly like a hungry old dog If I had begun with any appetite he would have taken it away and I should have sat much as I did repelled from him by an insurmountable aversion and gloomily looking at the cloth I m a heavy grubber dear boy he said

Robert Louis Stevenson

Kidnapped

over us or the greed with which we drank of it We lay there for the banks hid us drank again and again bathed our chests let our wrists trail in the running water till they ached with the chill and at last being wonderfully renewed we got out the meal bag and made drammach in the iron pan This though it is but cold water mingled with oatmeal yet makes a good enough dish for a hungry man and where there are no means of making fire or as in our case good reason for not making one it

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

brother He was delighted with him I would not allow myself yesterday to say how delighted or to repeat half that the Admiral said in his praise I deferred it all till his praise should be proved the praise of a friend as this day _does_ prove it _Now_ I may say that even I could not require William Price to excite a greater interest or be followed by warmer wishes and higher commendation than were most voluntarily bestowed by my uncle after the evening they had passed together Has this been all _your_ doing then cried Fanny Good heaven

Arthur Conan Doyle

Tales of Terror and Mystery

a perfect network of intersecting corridors But these all ended in one large circular hall with a square pedestal of tufa topped with a slab of marble at one end of it By Jove cried Kennedy in an ecstasy as Burger swung his lantern over the marble It is a Christian altar probably the first one in existence Here is the little consecration cross cut upon the corner of it No doubt this circular space was used as a church Precisely said Burger If I had more time I should like to show you all the bodies which are buried

Charles Dickens

David Copperfield

at first But I never happily for me no doubt made a single acquaintance or spoke to any of the many boys whom I saw daily in going to the warehouse in coming from it and in prowling about the streets at meal times I led the same secretly unhappy life but I led it in the same lonely self reliant manner The only changes I am conscious of are firstly that I had grown more shabby and secondly that I was now relieved of much of the weight of Mr and Mrs Micawber s cares for some relatives or

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

with energy I ve I ve had my eye upon him my dears close close Once let him feel that he is one of us once fill his mind with the idea that he has been a thief and he s ours Ours for his life Oho It couldn t have come about better The old man crossed his arms upon his breast and drawing his head and shoulders into a heap literally hugged himself for joy Ours said Sikes Yours you mean Perhaps I do my dear said the Jew with a shrill chuckle Mine if you like Bill

Charles Dickens

Oliver Twis

is Is it much farther asked the woman resting herself against a bank and looking up with the perspiration streaming from her face Much farther Yer as good as there said the long legged tramper pointing out before him Look there Those are the lights of London They re a good two mile off at least said the woman despondingly Never mind whether they re two mile off or twenty said Noah Claypole for he it was but get up and come on or I ll kick yer and so I give yer notice As Noah s red nose grew

H.G. Wells

The Island of Doctor Moreau

white fringed face was grimly set We crossed the ravine down which smoked the stream of hot water and followed the winding pathway through the canebrakes until we reached a wide area covered over with a thick powdery yellow substance which I believe was sulphur Above the shoulder of a weedy bank the sea glittered We came to a kind of shallow natural amphitheatre and here the four of us halted Then Moreau sounded the horn and broke the sleeping stillness of the tropical afternoon He must have had strong lungs The hooting note rose and rose amidst its echoes

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

came in gave a kind of cry and whipped upstairs into the cabinet It was but for one minute that I saw him but the hair stood upon my head like quills Sir if that was my master why had he a mask upon his face If it was my master why did he cry out like a rat and run from me I have served him long enough And then The man paused and passed his hand over his face These are all very strange circumstances said Mr Utterson but I think I begin to see daylight Your master

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

platform shouting loyally and sprang down again and receded looking backward Heads shoulders hands clutching weapons all were swinging with those marching cadences Faces came out of the confusion to him as he stood there eyes met his and passed and vanished Men gesticulated to him shouted inaudible personal things Most of the faces were flushed but many were ghastly white And disease was there and many a hand that waved to him was gaunt and lean Men and women of the new age Strange and incredible meeting As the broad stream passed before him to the right tributary gangways

Robert Louis Stevenson

Jekyll and Hyde

movement was thus wholly toward the worse Even at that time I had not conquered my aversions to the dryness of a life of study I would still be merrily disposed at times and as my pleasures were to say the least undignified and I was not only well known and highly considered but growing towards the elderly man this incoherency of my life was daily growing more unwelcome It was on this side that my new power tempted me until I fell in slavery I had but to drink the cup to doff at once the body of the

Jane Austen

Emma

try his skill by his manner of declining it yesterday I do think it is without exception the best charade I ever read I never read one more to the purpose certainly It is as long again as almost all we have had before I do not consider its length as particularly in its favour Such things in general cannot be too short Harriet was too intent on the lines to hear The most satisfactory comparisons were rising in her mind It is one thing said she presently her cheeks in a glow to have very good sense in a

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

you One thing more Excuse the liberty but take care _how_ you talk to me Do not tell me anything now which hereafter you may be sorry for The time may come The colour rushed into her cheeks as she spoke Dearest Fanny cried Edmund pressing her hand to his lips with almost as much warmth as if it had been Miss Crawford s you are all considerate thought But it is unnecessary here The time will never come No such time as you allude to will ever come I begin to think it most improbable the chances grow less

H.G. Wells

The Sleeper Awakes

here You will find out our troubles soon enough But those voices They were shouting Something about the Sleeper that s you They have some twisted idea I don t know what it is I know nothing A shrill bell jetted acutely across the indistinct mingling of remote noises and this brusque person sprang to a little group of appliances in the corner of the room He listened for a moment regarding a ball of crystal nodded and said a few indistinct words then he walked to the wall through which the two men had vanished It rolled up again

Jane Austen

Mansfield Park

danger in order to enhance her own importance her being there would have been a general good She loved to fancy how she could have read to her aunt how she could have talked to her and tried at once to make her feel the blessing of what was and prepare her mind for what might be and how many walks up and down stairs she might have saved her and how many messages she might have carried It astonished her that Tom s sisters could be satisfied with remaining in London at such a time through an illness which

Arthur Conan Doyle

The Lost World

have been long extinct that the interest of the public was naturally centered Of these he was able to give a goodly list but had little doubt that it would be largely extended when the place had been more thoroughly investigated He and his companions had seen at least a dozen creatures most of them at a distance which corresponded with nothing at present known to Science These would in time be duly classified and examined He instanced a snake the cast skin of which deep purple in color was fifty one feet in length and mentioned a white creature

Arthur Conan Doyle

Hound of Baskervilles

rather late to see the beauties of the place Stapleton had abandoned the chase and came back to us breathing hard and flushed with his exertions Halloa Beryl said he and it seemed to me that the tone of his greeting was not altogether a cordial one Well Jack you are very hot Yes I was chasing a Cyclopides He is very rare and seldom found in the late autumn What a pity that I should have missed him He spoke unconcernedly but his small light eyes glanced incessantly from the girl to me You have introduced yourselves I can

H.G. Wells

Time Machine

rather reluctantly I put it down And then it came into my head that I would amaze our friends behind by lighting it I was to discover the atrocious folly of this proceeding but it came to my mind as an ingenious move for covering our retreat I don t know if you have ever thought what a rare thing flame must be in the absence of man and in a temperate climate The sun s heat is rarely strong enough to burn even when it is focused by dewdrops as is sometimes the case in more tropical districts Lightning