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The Final Problem
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by which my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes was distinguished. In an incoherent ...
The Musgrave Ritual
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was the neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also he affe ...
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The Gloria Scott
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
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"I have some papers here," said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as we sat one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really think, Watson, that it would be worth your while to glance over. Th ...
The Miller's Daughter
By Émile Zola
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Pere Merlier's mill, one beautiful summer evening, was arranged for a grand fete. In the courtyard were three tables, placed end to end, which awaited the guests. Everyone knew that Francoise, Merlier ...
Captain Burle
By Émile Zola
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It was nine o'clock. The little town of Vauchamp, dark and silent, had just retired to bed amid a chilly November rain. In the Rue des Recollets, one of the narrowest and most deserted streets of the ...
The Death of Olivier Becaille
By Émile Zola
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It was on a Saturday, at six in the morning, that I died after a three days' illness. My wife was searching a trunk for some linen, and when she rose and turned she saw me rigid, with open eyes and si ...
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The Locket
By Kate Chopin
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One night in autumn a few men were gathered about a fire on the slope of a hill. They belonged to a small detachment of Confederate forces and were awaiting orders to march. Their gray uniforms were w ...
A Pair of Silk Stockings
By Kate Chopin
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Little Mrs. Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. It seemed to her a very large amount of money, and the way in which it stuffed and bulged her worn old porte-monn ...
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A Respectable Woman
By Kate Chopin
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Mrs. Baroda was a little provoked to learn that her husband expected his friend, Gouvernail, up to spend a week or two on the plantation. They had entertained a good deal during the winter; much of th ...
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Beyond the Bayou
By Kate Chopin
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The bayou curved like a crescent around the point of land on which La Folle's cabin stood. Between the stream and the hut lay a big abandoned field, where cattle were pastured when the bayou supplied ...
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Desiree's Baby
By Kate Chopin
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As the day was pleasant, Madame Valmonde drove over to L'Abri to see Desiree and the baby. It made her laugh to think of Desiree with a baby. Why, it seemed but yesterday that Desiree was little more ...
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Ma'ame Pelagie
By Kate Chopin
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When the war began, there stood on Cote Joyeuse an imposing mansion of red brick, shaped like the Pantheon. A grove of majestic live-oaks surrounded it. Thirty years later, only the thick walls were s ...
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The Camel's Back
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
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The glazed eye of the tired reader resting for a second on the above title will presume it to be merely metaphorical. Stories about the cup and the lip and the bad penny and the new broom rarely have ...
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
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John T. Unger came from a family that had been well known in Hades--a small town on the Mississippi River--for several generations. John's father had held the amateur golf championship through many a ...
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The Jelly-Bean
By F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Jim Powell was a Jelly-bean. Much as I desire to make him an appealing character, I feel that it would be unscrupulous to deceive you on that point. He was a bred-in-the-bone, dyed-in-the-wool, ninety ...
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Ivan the Fool
By Leo Tolstoy
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IVAN THE FOOL. In a certain kingdom there lived a rich peasant, who had three sons--Simeon (a soldier), Tarras-Briukhan (fat man), and Ivan (a fool)--and one daughter, Milania, born dumb. Simeon went ...
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The Dance of Death
By Gustave Flaubert
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The Legend of Saint Julian the Hospitaller
By Gustave Flaubert
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Julian's father and mother dwelt in a castle built on the slope of a hill, in the heart of the woods. The towers at its four corners had pointed roofs covered with leaden tiles, and the foundation res ...
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