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    The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)
    The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)
    The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)
    Ebook1,685 pages22 hours

    The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)

    By Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London and

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    About this ebook

    DigiCat presents you the export product America is best known in the world of literature, the unique American short stories, ranging from satire, social injustice, horror, adventure and psychological turmoil. This edition includes: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Mark Twain) The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (Mark Twain) To Build a Fire (Jack London) A Piece of Steak (Jack London) An Odyssey of the North (Jack London) The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry) The Ransom of Red Chief (O. Henry) The Cop and the Anthem (O. Henry) A Retrieved Reformation (O. Henry) The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe) The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe) The Black Cat (Edgar Allan Poe) The Birthmark (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Rappacini's Daughter (Nathaniel Hawthorne) Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving) The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft) At the Mountains of Madness (H. P. Lovecraft) The Shadow over Innsmouth (H. P. Lovecraft) An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Ambrose Bierce) Chickamauga (Ambrose Bierce) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (F. Scott Fitzgerald) Bernice Bobs Her Hair (F. Scott Fitzgerald) The Turn of the Screw (Henry James) Daisy Miller – A Study (Henry James) Bartleby the Scrivener (Herman Melville) Benito Cereno (Herman Melville) Desiree's Baby (Kate Chopin) The Open Boat (Stephen Crane) The Luck of Roaring Camp (Bret Harte) A White Heron (Sarah Orne Jewett) Out of Season (Ernest Hemingway) The Revolt of 'Mother' (Mary Wilkins Freeman) The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman) Christmas Every Day (William Dean Howells) Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton) Paul's Case (Willa Cather) The Abbot's Ghost (Louisa May Alcott) The Wife of His Youth (Charles W. Chesnutt) Barn Burning (William Faulkner) The Lost Phoebe (Theodore Dreiser)
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDigiCat
    Release dateNov 13, 2022
    ISBN8596547404224
    The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)
    Author

    Mark Twain

    Mark Twain's classic coming-of-age novel that captured the imagination of America!Generations of readers and listeners have enjoyed the ingenuous triumphs and feckless mishaps of boyhood days on the Mississippi. This classic of American wit and storytelling introduced Tom Sawyer, Becky Thatcher, Aunt Polly, the Widow Douglas, and many other characters to the world, including, of course the boy who "was cordially hated and dreaded by all the mothers of the town because he was idle and lawless and vulgar and bad-and because all their children admired him so": Huckleberry Finn.This novel is part of Brilliance Audio's extensive Classic Collection, bringing you timeless masterpieces that you and your family are sure to love.

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      Book preview

      The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1) - Mark Twain

      Mark Twain, Edgar Allan Poe, Jack London

      The Greatest American Short Stories (Vol. 1)

      EAN 8596547404224

      DigiCat, 2022

      Contact: [email protected]

      Table of Contents

      The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County (Mark Twain)

      The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg (Mark Twain)

      To Build a Fire (Jack London)

      A Piece of Steak (Jack London)

      An Odyssey of the North (Jack London)

      The Gift of the Magi (O. Henry)

      The Ransom of Red Chief (O. Henry)

      The Cop and the Anthem (O. Henry)

      A Retrieved Reformation (O. Henry)

      The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe)

      The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe)

      The Pit and the Pendulum (Edgar Allan Poe)

      The Murders in the Rue Morgue (Edgar Allan Poe)

      The Black Cat (Edgar Allan Poe)

      The Birthmark (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

      Rappacini’s Daughter (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

      Rip Van Winkle (Washington Irving)

      The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Washington Irving)

      The Call of Cthulhu (H. P. Lovecraft)

      At the Mountains of Madness (H. P. Lovecraft)

      The Shadow over Innsmouth (H. P. Lovecraft)

      An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge (Ambrose Bierce)

      Chickamauga (Ambrose Bierce)

      The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

      Bernice Bobs Her Hair (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

      The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)

      Daisy Miller – A Study (Henry James)

      Bartleby the Scrivener (Herman Melville)

      Benito Cereno (Herman Melville)

      Desiree’s Baby (Kate Chopin)

      The Open Boat (Stephen Crane)

      The Luck of Roaring Camp (Bret Harte)

      A White Heron (Sarah Orne Jewett)

      Out of Season (Ernest Hemingway)

      The Revolt of ‘Mother’ (Mary Wilkins Freeman)

      The Yellow Wallpaper (Charlotte Perkins Gilman)

      Christmas Every Day (William Dean Howells)

      Ethan Frome (Edith Wharton)

      Paul’s Case (Willa Cather)

      The Abbot's Ghost (Louisa May Alcott)

      The Wife of His Youth (Charles W. Chesnutt)

      Barn Burning (William Faulkner)

      The Lost Phoebe (Theodore Dreiser)

      The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County

      (Mark Twain)

      Table of Contents

      In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that Leonidas W. Smiley is a myth; that my friend never knew such a personage; and that he only conjectured that, if I asked old Wheeler about him, it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me nearly to death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be useless to me. If that was the design, it certainly succeeded.

      I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the bar-room stove of the old, dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Angel's, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. Smiley—Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley—a young minister of the Gospel, who he had heard was at one time a resident of Angel's Camp. I added that, if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him.

      Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chair, and then sat me down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which follows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the gentle-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasm; but all through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that, so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendant genius in finesse. To me, the spectacle of a man drifting serenely along through such a queer yarn without ever smiling, was exquisitely absurd. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once:

      There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of '49—or may be it was the spring of '50—I don't recollect exactly, somehow, though what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasn't finished when he first came to the camp; but any way, he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't, he'd change sides. Anyway that suited the other man would suit him—anyway just so's he got a bet, he was satisfied. But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn't be no solit'ry thing mentioned but that feller'd offer to bet on it, and take any side you please, as I was just telling you. If there was a horse-race, you'd find him flush, or you'd find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, he'd bet on it; why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first; or if there was a camp-meeting, he would be there reg'lar, to bet on Parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and so he was, too, and a good man. If he even seen a straddle-bug start to go anywheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get wherever he was going to, and if you took him up, he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys here has seen that Smiley, and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to him—he would bet on any thing— the dangdest feller. Parson Walker's wife laid very sick once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warn't going to save her; but one morning he come in, and Smiley asked how she was, and he said she was considerable better—thank the Lord for his inf'nit mercy—and coming on so smart that, with the blessing of Prov'dence, she'd get well yet; and Smiley, before he thought, says, Well, I'll risk two-and-a-half that she don't, anyway.

      Thish-yer Smiley had a mare—the boys called her the fifteen-minute nag, but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than that—and he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards' start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race she'd get excited and desperate-like, and come cavorting and straddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust and raising more racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her nose—and always fetch up at the stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cypher it down.

      And he had a little small bull pup, that to look at him you'd think he wan't worth a cent, but to set around and look ornery, and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was upon him, he was a different dog; his under-jaw'd begin to stick out like the fo'castle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him, and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jackson—which was the name of the pup—Andrew Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadn't expected nothing else—and the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all the time, till the money was all up; and then all of a sudden he would grab that other dog jest by the j'int of his hind leg and freeze to it—not chaw, you understand, but only jest grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year. Smiley always come out winner on that pup, till he harnessed a dog once that didn't have no hind legs, because they'd been sawed off by a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he come to make a snatch for his pet holt, he saw in a minute how he'd been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he 'peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged-like, and didn't try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He give Smiley a look, as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadn't no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependance in a fight, and then he limped off a piece and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if he'd lived, for the stuff was in him, and he had genius—I know it, because he hadn't had no opportunities to speak of, and it don't stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances, if he hadn't no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of his'n, and the way it turned out.

      Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-tarriers, and chicken cocks, and tom-cats, and all them kind of things, till you couldn't rest, and you couldn't fetch nothing for him to bet on but he'd match you. He hatched a frog one day, and took him home, and said he cal'klated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. He'd give him a little punch behind, and the next minute you'd see that frog whirling in the air like it doughnut—see him turn one summerset, or may be a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. He got him up so in the matter of catching flies, and kept him in practice so constant, that he'd nail a fly every time as far as he could see him. Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do most anything—and I believe him. Why, I've seen him set Dan'l Webster down here on this floor—Dau'l Webster was the name of the frog—and sing out, Flies, Dan'l, flies! and quicker'n you could wink, he'd spring straight up, and snake a fly off'n the counter there, and flop down on the floor again as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadn't no idea he'd been doin' any more'n any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightfor'ard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair and square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit, you understand; and when it come to that, Smiley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Smiley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had traveled and been everywheres, all said he laid over any frog that ever they see.

      Well, Smiley kept the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him down town sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a feller—a stranger in the camp, he was—come across him with his box, and says:

      What might it be that you've got in the box?

      And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it an't—it's only just a frog.

      And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, "H'm—so 'tis. Well, what's he good for?"

      Well, Smiley says, easy and careless, "he's good enough for one thing, I should judge—he can outjump ary frog in Calaveras county."

      The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley, and says, very deliberate, Well, I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog.

      Maybe you don't, Smiley says. "Maybe you understand frogs, and maybe you don't understand 'em; maybe you've had experience, and maybe you an't only a amature, as it were. Anyways, I've got my opinion, and I'll risk forty dollars that he can outjump any frog in Calaveras county."

      And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad like, Well, I'm only a stranger here, and I an't got no frog; but if I had a frog, I'd bet you.

      And then Smiley says, That's all right—that's all right—if you'll hold my box a minute, I'll go and get you a frog. And so the feller took the box, and put up his forty dollars along with Smiley's and set down to wait.

      So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to hisself, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of quail shot—filled him pretty near up to his chin—and set him on the floor. Smiley he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he ketched a frog, and fetched him in, and give him to this feller, and says:

      Now, if you're ready, set him alongside of Dan'l, with his fore-paws just even with Dan'l, and I'll give the word. Then he says, One—two—three—jump! and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off, but Dan'l give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders—so—like a Frenchman, but it wan't no use—he couldn't budge; he was planted as solid as an anvil, and he couldn't no more stir than if he was anchored out. Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted too, but he didn't have no idea what the matter was, of course.

      The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out at the door, he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulder—this way—at Dan'l, and says again, very deliberate, "Well I don't see no p'ints about that frog that's any better'n any other frog."

      Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Dan'l a long time, and at last he says, I do wonder what in the nation that frog throw'd off for—I wonder if there an't something the matter with him—he 'pears to look mighty baggy, somehow. And he ketched Dan'l by the nap of the neck, and lifted him up and says, Why, blame my cats, if he don't weigh five pound! and turned him upside down, and he belched out a double handful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was the maddest man—he set the frog down and took out after that feller, but he never ketched him. And——

      (Here Simon Wheeler heard his name called from the front yard, and got up to see what was wanted.) And turning to me as he moved away, he said: just set where you are, stranger, and rest easy—I an't going to be gone a second.

      But, by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of the enterprising vagabond Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.

      At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he button-holed me and recommenced:

      Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didn't have no tail, only jest a short stump like a bannanner, and——

      Oh! hang Smiley and his afflicted cow! I muttered, good-naturedly, and bidding the old gentleman good day, I departed.

      The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg

      (Mark Twain)

      Table of Contents

      Table of Contents

      Chapter I.

      Chapter II.

      Chapter III.

      Chapter IV.

      Chapter I.

      Table of Contents

      It was many years ago. Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of its possessions. It was so proud of it, and so anxious to insure its perpetuation, that it began to teach the principles of honest dealing to its babies in the cradle, and made the like teachings the staple of their culture thenceforward through all the years devoted to their education. Also, throughout the formative years temptations were kept out of the way of the young people, so that their honesty could have every chance to harden and solidify, and become a part of their very bone. The neighboring towns were jealous of this honorable supremacy, and affected to sneer at Hadleyburg’s pride in it and call it vanity; but all the same they were obliged to acknowledge that Hadleyburg was in reality an incorruptible town; and if pressed they would also acknowledge that the mere fact that a young man hailed from Hadleyburg was all the recommendation he needed when he went forth from his natal town to seek for responsible employment.

      But at last, in the drift of time, Hadleyburg had the ill luck to offend a passing stranger – possibly without knowing it, certainly without caring, for Hadleyburg was sufficient unto itself, and cared not a rap for strangers or their opinions. Still, it would have been well to make an exception in this one’s case, for he was a bitter man, and revengeful. All through his wanderings during a whole year he kept his injury in mind, and gave all his leisure moments to trying to invent a compensating satisfaction for it. He contrived many plans, and all of them were good, but none of them was quite sweeping enough: the poorest of them would hurt a great many individuals, but what he wanted was a plan which would comprehend the entire town, and not let so much as one person escape unhurt. At last he had a fortunate idea, and when it fell into his brain it lit up his whole head with an evil joy. He began to form a plan at once, saying to himself That is the thing to do – I will corrupt the town.

      Six months later he went to Hadleyburg, and arrived in a buggy at the house of the old cashier of the bank about ten at night. He got a sack out of the buggy, shouldered it, and staggered with it through the cottage yard, and knocked at the door. A woman’s voice said Come in, and he entered, and set his sack behind the stove in the parlor, saying politely to the old lady who sat reading the Missionary Herald by the lamp:

      Pray keep your seat, madam, I will not disturb you. There – now it is pretty well concealed; one would hardly know it was there. Can I see your husband a moment, madam?

      No, he was gone to Brixton, and might not return before morning.

      Very well, madam, it is no matter. I merely wanted to leave that sack in his care, to be delivered to the rightful owner when he shall be found. I am a stranger; he does not know me; I am merely passing through the town tonight to discharge a matter which has been long in my mind. My errand is now completed, and I go pleased and a little proud, and you will never see me again. There is a paper attached to the sack which will explain everything. Good-night, madam.

      The old lady was afraid of the mysterious big stranger, and was glad to see him go. But her curiosity was roused, and she went straight to the sack and brought away the paper. It began as follows:

      TO BE PUBLISHED, or, the right man sought out by private inquiry – either will answer. This sack contains gold coin weighing a hundred and sixty pounds four ounces—

      Mercy on us, and the door not locked!

      Mrs. Richards flew to it all in a tremble and locked it, then pulled down the window-shades and stood frightened, worried, and wondering if there was anything else she could do toward making herself and the money more safe. She listened awhile for burglars, then surrendered to curiosity, and went back to the lamp and finished reading the paper:

      I am a foreigner, and am presently going back to my own country, to remain there permanently. I am grateful to America for what I have received at her hands during my long stay under her flag; and to one of her citizens – a citizen of Hadleyburg – I am especially grateful for a great kindness done me a year or two ago. Two great kindnesses in fact. I will explain. I was a gambler. I say I was. I was a ruined gambler. I arrived in this village at night, hungry and without a penny. I asked for help – in the dark; I was ashamed to beg in the light. I begged of the right man. He gave me twenty dollars – that is to say, he gave me life, as I considered it. He also gave me fortune; for out of that money I have made myself rich at the gaming-table. And finally, a remark which he made to me has remained with me to this day, and has at last conquered me; and in conquering has saved the remnant of my morals: I shall gamble no more. Now I have no idea who that man was, but I want him found, and I want him to have this money, to give away, throw away, or keep, as he pleases. It is merely my way of testifying my gratitude to him. If I could stay, I would find him myself; but no matter, he will be found. This is an honest town, an incorruptible town, and I know I can trust it without fear. This man can be identified by the remark which he made to me; I feel persuaded that he will remember it.

      And now my plan is this: If you prefer to conduct the inquiry privately, do so. Tell the contents of this present writing to anyone who is likely to be the right man. If he shall answer, ‘I am the man; the remark I made was so-and-so,’ apply the test – to wit: open the sack, and in it you will find a sealed envelope containing that remark. If the remark mentioned by the candidate tallies with it, give him the money, and ask no further questions, for he is certainly the right man.

      But if you shall prefer a public inquiry, then publish this present writing in the local paper – with these instructions added, to wit: Thirty days from now, let the candidate appear at the town-hall at eight in the evening (Friday), and hand his remark, in a sealed envelope, to the Rev. Mr. Burgess (if he will be kind enough to act); and let Mr. Burgess there and then destroy the seals of the sack, open it, and see if the remark is correct: if correct, let the money be delivered, with my sincere gratitude, to my benefactor thus identified.

      Mrs. Richards sat down, gently quivering with excitement, and was soon lost in thinkings – after this pattern: What a strange thing it is! . . . And what a fortune for that kind man who set his bread afloat upon the waters! . . . If it had only been my husband that did it! – for we are so poor, so old and poor! . . . Then, with a sigh – But it was not my Edward; no, it was not he that gave a stranger twenty dollars. It is a pity too; I see it now . . . Then, with a shudder – "But it is gamblers’ money! the wages of sin; we couldn’t take it; we couldn’t touch it. I don’t like to be near it; it seems a defilement. She moved to a farther chair . . . I wish Edward would come, and take it to the bank; a burglar might come at any moment; it is dreadful to be here all alone with it."

      At eleven Mr. Richards arrived, and while his wife was saying "I am so glad you’ve come! he was saying, I am so tired – tired clear out; it is dreadful to be poor, and have to make these dismal journeys at my time of life. Always at the grind, grind, grind, on a salary – another man’s slave, and he sitting at home in his slippers, rich and comfortable."

      I am so sorry for you, Edward, you know that; but be comforted; we have our livelihood; we have our good name—

      Yes, Mary, and that is everything. Don’t mind my talk – it’s just a moment’s irritation and doesn’t mean anything. Kiss me – there, it’s all gone now, and I am not complaining any more. What have you been getting? What’s in the sack?

      Then his wife told him the great secret. It dazed him for a moment; then he said:

      It weighs a hundred and sixty pounds? Why, Mary, it’s for-ty thou-sand dollars – think of it – a whole fortune! Not ten men in this village are worth that much. Give me the paper.

      He skimmed through it and said:

      Isn’t it an adventure! Why, it’s a romance; it’s like the impossible things one reads about in books, and never sees in life. He was well stirred up now; cheerful, even gleeful. He tapped his old wife on the cheek, and said humorously, Why, we’re rich, Mary, rich; all we’ve got to do is to bury the money and burn the papers. If the gambler ever comes to inquire, we’ll merely look coldly upon him and say: ‘What is this nonsense you are talking? We have never heard of you and your sack of gold before;’ and then he would look foolish, and—

      And in the meantime, while you are running on with your jokes, the money is still here, and it is fast getting along toward burglar-time.

      True. Very well, what shall we do – make the inquiry private? No, not that; it would spoil the romance. The public method is better. Think what a noise it will make! And it will make all the other towns jealous; for no stranger would trust such a thing to any town but Hadleyburg, and they know it. It’s a great card for us. I must get to the printing-office now, or I shall be too late.

      But stop – stop – don’t leave me here alone with it, Edward!

      But he was gone. For only a little while, however. Not far from his own house he met the editor-proprietor of the paper, and gave him the document, and said, Here is a good thing for you, Cox – put it in.

      It may be too late, Mr. Richards, but I’ll see.

      At home again, he and his wife sat down to talk the charming mystery over; they were in no condition for sleep. The first question was, Who could the citizen have been who gave the stranger the twenty dollars? It seemed a simple one; both answered it in the same breath—

      Barclay Goodson.

      Yes, said Richards, he could have done it, and it would have been like him, but there’s not another in the town.

      Everybody will grant that, Edward – grant it privately, anyway. For six months, now, the village has been its own proper self once more – honest, narrow, self-righteous, and stingy.

      It is what he always called it, to the day of his death – said it right out publicly, too.

      Yes, and he was hated for it.

      Oh, of course; but he didn’t care. I reckon he was the best-hated man among us, except the Reverend Burgess.

      "Well, Burgess deserves it – he will never get another congregation here. Mean as the town is, it knows how to estimate him. Edward, doesn’t it seem odd that the stranger should appoint Burgess to deliver the money?"

      Well, yes – it does. That is – that is—

      "Why so much that-is-ing? Would you select him?"

      Mary, maybe the stranger knows him better than this village does.

      "Much that would help Burgess!"

      The husband seemed perplexed for an answer; the wife kept a steady eye upon him, and waited. Finally Richards said, with the hesitancy of one who is making a statement which is likely to encounter doubt,

      Mary, Burgess is not a bad man.

      His wife was certainly surprised.

      Nonsense! she exclaimed.

      He is not a bad man. I know. The whole of his unpopularity had its foundation in that one thing – the thing that made so much noise.

      That ‘one thing,’ indeed! As if that ‘one thing’ wasn’t enough, all by itself.

      Plenty. Plenty. Only he wasn’t guilty of it.

      "How you talk! Not guilty of it! Everybody knows he was guilty."

      Mary, I give you my word – he was innocent.

      I can’t believe it and I don’t. How do you know?

      It is a confession. I am ashamed, but I will make it. I was the only man who knew he was innocent. I could have saved him, and— and— well, you know how the town was wrought up – I hadn’t the pluck to do it. It would have turned everybody against me. I felt mean, ever so mean; but I didn’t dare; I hadn’t the manliness to face that.

      Mary looked troubled, and for a while was silent. Then she said stammeringly:

      I— I don’t think it would have done for you to – to – One mustn’t – er— public opinion – one has to be so careful – so— It was a difficult road, and she got mired; but after a little she got started again. It was a great pity, but— Why, we couldn’t afford it, Edward – we couldn’t indeed. Oh, I wouldn’t have had you do it for anything!

      It would have lost us the good-will of so many people, Mary; and then – and then—

      "What troubles me now is, what he thinks of us, Edward."

      "He? He doesn’t suspect that I could have saved him."

      Oh, exclaimed the wife, in a tone of relief, "I am glad of that. As long as he doesn’t know that you could have saved him, he— he— well that makes it a great deal better. Why, I might have known he didn’t know, because he is always trying to be friendly with us, as little encouragement as we give him. More than once people have twitted me with it. There’s the Wilsons, and the Wilcoxes, and the Harknesses, they take a mean pleasure in saying ‘Your friend Burgess,’ because they know it pesters me. I wish he wouldn’t persist in liking us so; I can’t think why he keeps it up."

      I can explain it. It’s another confession. When the thing was new and hot, and the town made a plan to ride him on a rail, my conscience hurt me so that I couldn’t stand it, and I went privately and gave him notice, and he got out of the town and stayed out till it was safe to come back.

      Edward! If the town had found it out—

      "Don’t! It scares me yet, to think of it. I repented of it the minute it was done; and I was even afraid to tell you lest your face might betray it to somebody. I didn’t sleep any that night, for worrying. But after a few days I saw that no one was going to suspect me, and after that I got to feeling glad I did it. And I feel glad yet, Mary – glad through and through."

      So do I, now, for it would have been a dreadful way to treat him. Yes, I’m glad; for really you did owe him that, you know. But, Edward, suppose it should come out yet, someday!

      It won’t.

      Why?

      Because everybody thinks it was Goodson.

      Of course they would!

      "Certainly. And of course he didn’t care. They persuaded poor old Sawlsberry to go and charge it on him, and he went blustering over there and did it. Goodson looked him over, like as if he was hunting for a place on him that he could despise the most; then he says, ‘So you are the Committee of Inquiry, are you?’ Sawlsberry said that was about what he was. ‘H’m. Do they require particulars, or do you reckon a kind of a general answer will do?’ ‘If they require particulars, I will come back, Mr. Goodson; I will take the general answer first.’ ‘Very well, then, tell them to go to hell – I reckon that’s general enough. And I’ll give you some advice, Sawlsberry; when you come back for the particulars, fetch a basket to carry what is left of yourself home in.’"

      Just like Goodson; it’s got all the marks. He had only one vanity; he thought he could give advice better than any other person.

      It settled the business, and saved us, Mary. The subject was dropped.

      "Bless you, I’m not doubting that."

      Then they took up the gold-sack mystery again, with strong interest. Soon the conversation began to suffer breaks – interruptions caused by absorbed thinkings. The breaks grew more and more frequent. At last Richards lost himself wholly in thought. He sat long, gazing vacantly at the floor, and by-and-by he began to punctuate his thoughts with little nervous movements of his hands that seemed to indicate vexation. Meantime his wife too had relapsed into a thoughtful silence, and her movements were beginning to show a troubled discomfort. Finally Richards got up and strode aimlessly about the room, plowing his hands through his hair, much as a somnambulist might do who was having a bad dream. Then he seemed to arrive at a definite purpose; and without a word he put on his hat and passed quickly out of the house. His wife sat brooding, with a drawn face, and did not seem to be aware that she was alone. Now and then she murmured, Lead us not into t— . . . but— but— we are so poor, so poor! . . . Lead us not into . . . Ah, who would be hurt by it? – and no one would ever know . . . Lead us . . . The voice died out in mumblings. After a little she glanced up and muttered in a half-frightened, half-glad way—

      He is gone! But, oh dear, he may be too late – too late . . . Maybe not – maybe there is still time. She rose and stood thinking, nervously clasping and unclasping her hands. A slight shudder shook her frame, and she said, out of a dry throat, God forgive me – it’s awful to think such things – but . . . Lord, how we are made – how strangely we are made!

      She turned the light low, and slipped stealthily over and knelt down by the sack and felt of its ridgy sides with her hands, and fondled them lovingly; and there was a gloating light in her poor old eyes. She fell into fits of absence; and came half out of them at times to mutter, If we had only waited! – oh, if we had only waited a little, and not been in such a hurry!

      Meantime Cox had gone home from his office and told his wife all about the strange thing that had happened, and they had talked it over eagerly, and guessed that the late Goodson was the only man in the town who could have helped a suffering stranger with so noble a sum as twenty dollars. Then there was a pause, and the two became thoughtful and silent. And by-and-by nervous and fidgety. At last the wife said, as if to herself,

      Nobody knows this secret but the Richardses . . . and us . . . nobody.

      The husband came out of his thinkings with a slight start, and gazed wistfully at his wife, whose face was become very pale; then he hesitatingly rose, and glanced furtively at his hat, then at his wife – a sort of mute inquiry. Mrs. Cox swallowed once or twice, with her hand at her throat, then in place of speech she nodded her head. In a moment she was alone, and mumbling to herself.

      And now Richards and Cox were hurrying through the deserted streets, from opposite directions. They met, panting, at the foot of the printing-office stairs; by the night-light there they read each other’s face. Cox whispered:

      Nobody knows about this but us?

      The whispered answer was:

      Not a soul – on honor, not a soul!

      If it isn’t too late to—

      The men were starting upstairs; at this moment they were overtaken by a boy, and Cox asked,

      Is that you, Johnny?

      Yes, sir.

      "You needn’t ship the early mail – nor any mail; wait till I tell you."

      It’s already gone, sir.

      "Gone?" It had the sound of an unspeakable disappointment in it.

      Yes, sir. Time-table for Brixton and all the towns beyond changed today, sir – had to get the papers in twenty minutes earlier than common. I had to rush; if I had been two minutes later—

      The men turned and walked slowly away, not waiting to hear the rest. Neither of them spoke during ten minutes; then Cox said, in a vexed tone,

      "What possessed you to be in such a hurry, I can’t make out."

      The answer was humble enough:

      I see it now, but somehow I never thought, you know, until it was too late. But the next time—

      Next time be hanged! It won’t come in a thousand years.

      Then the friends separated without a good-night, and dragged themselves home with the gait of mortally stricken men. At their homes their wives sprang up with an eager Well? – then saw the answer with their eyes and sank down sorrowing, without waiting for it to come in words. In both houses a discussion followed of a heated sort – a new thing; there had been discussions before, but not heated ones, not ungentle ones. The discussions tonight were a sort of seeming plagiarisms of each other. Mrs. Richards said:

      If you had only waited, Edward – if you had only stopped to think; but no, you must run straight to the printing-office and spread it all over the world.

      "It said publish it."

      That is nothing; it also said do it privately, if you liked. There, now – is that true, or not?

      Why, yes – yes, it is true; but when I thought what a stir it would make, and what a compliment it was to Hadleyburg that a stranger should trust it so—

      "Oh, certainly, I know all that; but if you had only stopped to think, you would have seen that you couldn’t find the right man, because he is in his grave, and hasn’t left chick nor child nor relation behind him; and as long as the money went to somebody that awfully needed it, and nobody would be hurt by it, and— and—"

      She broke down, crying. Her husband tried to think of some comforting thing to say, and presently came out with this:

      But after all, Mary, it must be for the best – it must be; we know that. And we must remember that it was so ordered—

      "Ordered! Oh, everything’s ordered, when a person has to find some way out when he has been stupid. Just the same, it was ordered that the money should come to us in this special way, and it was you that must take it on yourself to go meddling with the designs of Providence – and who gave you the right? It was wicked, that is what it was – just blasphemous presumption, and no more becoming to a meek and humble professor of—"

      But, Mary, you know how we have been trained all our lives long, like the whole village, till it is absolutely second nature to us to stop not a single moment to think when there’s an honest thing to be done—

      "Oh, I know it, I know it – it’s been one everlasting training and training and training in honesty – honesty shielded, from the very cradle, against every possible temptation, and so it’s artificial honesty, and weak as water when temptation comes, as we have seen this night. God knows I never had shade nor shadow of a doubt of my petrified and indestructible honesty until now – and now, under the very first big and real temptation, I— Edward, it is my belief that this town’s honesty is as rotten as mine is; as rotten as yours. It is a mean town, a hard, stingy town, and hasn’t a virtue in the world but this honesty it is so celebrated for and so conceited about; and so help me, I do believe that if ever the day comes that its honesty falls under great temptation, its grand reputation will go to ruin like a house of cards. There, now, I’ve made confession, and I feel better; I am a humbug, and I’ve been one all my life, without knowing it. Let no man call me honest again – I will not have it."

      I— Well, Mary, I feel a good deal as you do: I certainly do. It seems strange, too, so strange. I never could have believed it – never.

      A long silence followed; both were sunk in thought. At last the wife looked up and said:

      I know what you are thinking, Edward.

      Richards had the embarrassed look of a person who is caught.

      I am ashamed to confess it, Mary, but—

      It’s no matter, Edward, I was thinking the same question myself.

      I hope so. State it.

      "You were thinking, if a body could only guess out what the remark was that Goodson made to the stranger."

      It’s perfectly true. I feel guilty and ashamed. And you?

      I’m past it. Let us make a pallet here; we’ve got to stand watch till the bank vault opens in the morning and admits the sack . . . Oh dear, oh dear – if we hadn’t made the mistake!

      The pallet was made, and Mary said:

      The open sesame – what could it have been? I do wonder what that remark could have been. But come; we will get to bed now.

      And sleep?

      No; think.

      Yes; think.

      By this time the Coxes too had completed their spat and their reconciliation, and were turning in – to think, to think, and toss, and fret, and worry over what the remark could possibly have been which Goodson made to the stranded derelict; that golden remark; that remark worth forty thousand dollars, cash.

      The reason that the village telegraph-office was open later than usual that night was this: The foreman of Cox’s paper was the local representative of the Associated Press. One might say its honorary representative, for it wasn’t four times a year that he could furnish thirty words that would be accepted. But this time it was different. His despatch stating what he had caught got an instant answer:

      Send the whole thing – all the details – twelve hundred words.

      A colossal order! The foreman filled the bill; and he was the proudest man in the State. By breakfast-time the next morning the name of Hadleyburg the Incorruptible was on every lip in America, from Montreal to the Gulf, from the glaciers of Alaska to the orange-groves of Florida; and millions and millions of people were discussing the stranger and his money-sack, and wondering if the right man would be found, and hoping some more news about the matter would come soon – right away.

      Chapter II.

      Table of Contents

      Hadleyburg village woke up world-celebrated – astonished – happy – vain. Vain beyond imagination. Its nineteen principal citizens and their wives went about shaking hands with each other, and beaming, and smiling, and congratulating, and saying this thing adds a new word to the dictionary – Hadleyburg, synonym for incorruptible – destined to live in dictionaries forever! And the minor and unimportant citizens and their wives went around acting in much the same way. Everybody ran to the bank to see the gold-sack; and before noon grieved and envious crowds began to flock in from Brixton and all neighboring towns; and that afternoon and next day reporters began to arrive from everywhere to verify the sack and its history and write the whole thing up anew, and make dashing free-hand pictures of the sack, and of Richards’s house, and the bank, and the Presbyterian church, and the Baptist church, and the public square, and the town-hall where the test would be applied and the money delivered; and damnable portraits of the Richardses, and Pinkerton the banker, and Cox, and the foreman, and Reverend Burgess, and the postmaster – and even of Jack Halliday, who was the loafing, good-natured, no-account, irreverent fisherman, hunter, boys’ friend, stray-dogs’ friend, typical Sam Lawson of the town. The little mean, smirking, oily Pinkerton showed the sack to all comers, and rubbed his sleek palms together pleasantly, and enlarged upon the town’s fine old reputation for honesty and upon this wonderful endorsement of it, and hoped and believed that the example would now spread far and wide over the American world, and be epoch-making in the matter of moral regeneration. And so on, and so on.

      By the end of a week things had quieted down again; the wild intoxication of pride and joy had sobered to a soft, sweet, silent delight – a sort of deep, nameless, unutterable content. All faces bore a look of peaceful, holy happiness.

      Then a change came. It was a gradual change; so gradual that its beginnings were hardly noticed; maybe were not noticed at all, except by Jack Halliday, who always noticed everything; and always made fun of it, too, no matter what it was. He began to throw out chaffing remarks about people not looking quite so happy as they did a day or two ago; and next he claimed that the new aspect was deepening to positive sadness; next, that it was taking on a sick look; and finally he said that everybody was become so moody, thoughtful, and absent-minded that he could rob the meanest man in town of a cent out of the bottom of his breeches pocket and not disturb his reverie.

      At this stage – or at about this stage – a saying like this was dropped at bedtime – with a sigh, usually – by the head of each of the nineteen principal households:

      "Ah, what could have been the remark that Goodson made?"

      And straightway – with a shudder – came this, from the man’s wife:

      "Oh, don’t! What horrible thing are you mulling in your mind? Put it away from you, for God’s sake!"

      But that question was wrung from those men again the next night – and got the same retort. But weaker.

      And the third night the men uttered the question yet again – with anguish, and absently. This time – and the following night – the wives fidgeted feebly, and tried to say something. But didn’t.

      And the night after that they found their tongues and responded – longingly:

      "Oh, if we could only guess!"

      Halliday’s comments grew daily more and more sparklingly disagreeable and disparaging. He went diligently about, laughing at the town, individually and in mass. But his laugh was the only one left in the village: it fell upon a hollow and mournful vacancy and emptiness. Not even a smile was findable anywhere. Halliday carried a cigar-box around on a tripod, playing that it was a camera, and halted all passers and aimed the thing and said Ready! – now look pleasant, please, but not even this capital joke could surprise the dreary faces into any softening.

      So three weeks passed – one week was left. It was Saturday evening after supper. Instead of the aforetime Saturday-evening flutter and bustle and shopping and larking, the streets were empty and desolate. Richards and his old wife sat apart in their little parlor – miserable and thinking. This was become their evening habit now: the life-long habit which had preceded it, of reading, knitting, and contented chat, or receiving or paying neighborly calls, was dead and gone and forgotten, ages ago – two or three weeks ago; nobody talked now, nobody read, nobody visited – the whole village sat at home, sighing, worrying, silent. Trying to guess out that remark.

      The postman left a letter. Richards glanced listlessly at the superscription and the post-mark – unfamiliar, both – and tossed the letter on the table and resumed his might-have-beens and his hopeless dull miseries where he had left them off. Two or three hours later his wife got wearily up and was going away to bed without a good-night – custom now – but she stopped near the letter and eyed it awhile with a dead interest, then broke it open, and began to skim it over. Richards, sitting there with his chair tilted back against the wall and his chin between his knees, heard something fall. It was his wife. He sprang to her side, but she cried out:

      Leave me alone, I am too happy. Read the letter – read it!

      He did. He devoured it, his brain reeling. The letter was from a distant State, and it said:

      I am a stranger to you, but no matter: I have something to tell. I have just arrived home from Mexico, and learned about that episode. Of course you do not know who made that remark, but I know, and I am the only person living who does know. It was Goodson. I knew him well, many years ago. I passed through your village that very night, and was his guest till the midnight train came along. I overheard him make that remark to the stranger in the dark – it was in Hale Alley. He and I talked of it the rest of the way home, and while smoking in his house. He mentioned many of your villagers in the course of his talk – most of them in a very uncomplimentary way, but two or three favorably: among these latter yourself. I say ‘favorably’ – nothing stronger. I remember his saying he did not actually like any person in the town – not one; but that you – I think he said you – am almost sure – had done him a very great service once, possibly without knowing the full value of it, and he wished he had a fortune, he would leave it to you when he died, and a curse apiece for the rest of the citizens. Now, then, if it was you that did him that service, you are his legitimate heir, and entitled to the sack of gold. I know that I can trust to your honor and honesty, for in a citizen of Hadleyburg these virtues are an unfailing inheritance, and so I am going to reveal to you the remark, well satisfied that if you are not the right man you will seek and find the right one and see that poor Goodson’s debt of gratitude for the service referred to is paid. This is the remark You are far from being a bad man: go, and reform.

      Howard L. Stephenson.

      "Oh, Edward, the money is ours, and I am so grateful, oh, so grateful, – kiss me, dear, it’s forever since we kissed – and we needed it so – the money – and now you are free of Pinkerton and his bank, and nobody’s slave any more; it seems to me I could fly for joy."

      It was a happy half-hour that the couple spent there on the settee caressing each other; it was the old days come again – days that had begun with their courtship and lasted without a break till the stranger brought the deadly money. By-and-by the wife said:

      Oh, Edward, how lucky it was you did him that grand service, poor Goodson! I never liked him, but I love him now. And it was fine and beautiful of you never to mention it or brag about it. Then, with a touch of reproach, "But you ought to have told me, Edward, you ought to have told your wife, you know."

      Well, I— er— well, Mary, you see—

      Now stop hemming and hawing, and tell me about it, Edward. I always loved you, and now I’m proud of you. Everybody believes there was only one good generous soul in this village, and now it turns out that you— Edward, why don’t you tell me?

      Well – er— er Why, Mary, I can’t!

      "You can’t? Why can’t you?"

      You see, he— well, he— he made me promise I wouldn’t.

      The wife looked him over, and said, very slowly:

      Made – you – promise? Edward, what do you tell me that for?

      Mary, do you think I would lie?

      She was troubled and silent for a moment, then she laid her hand within his and said:

      No . . . no. We have wandered far enough from our bearings – God spare us that! In all your life you have never uttered a lie. But now – now that the foundations of things seem to be crumbling from under us, we – we— She lost her voice for a moment, then said, brokenly, Lead us not into temptation . . . I think you made the promise, Edward. Let it rest so. Let us keep away from that ground. Now – that is all gone by; let us be happy again; it is no time for clouds.

      Edward found it something of an effort to comply, for his mind kept wandering – trying to remember what the service was that he had done Goodson.

      The couple lay awake the most of the night, Mary happy and busy, Edward busy, but not so happy. Mary was planning what she would do with the money. Edward was trying to recall that service. At first his conscience was sore on account of the lie he had told Mary – if it was a lie. After much reflection – suppose it was a lie? What then? Was it such a great matter? Aren’t we always acting lies? Then why not tell them? Look at Mary – look what she had done. While he was hurrying off on his honest errand, what was she doing? Lamenting because the papers hadn’t been destroyed and the money kept. Is theft better than lying?

      That point lost its sting – the lie dropped into the background and left comfort behind it. The next point came to the front: Had he rendered that service? Well, here was Goodson’s own evidence as reported in Stephenson’s letter; there could be no better evidence than that – it was even proof that he had rendered it. Of course. So that point was settled . . . No, not quite. He recalled with a wince that this unknown Mr. Stephenson was just a trifle unsure as to whether the performer of it was Richards or some other – and, oh dear, he had put Richards on his honor! He must himself decide whither that money must go – and Mr. Stephenson was not doubting that if he was the wrong man he would go honorably and find the right one. Oh, it was odious to put a man in such a situation – ah, why couldn’t Stephenson have left out that doubt? What did he want to intrude that for?

      Further reflection. How did it happen that Richards’s name remained in Stephenson’s mind as indicating the right man, and not some other man’s name? That looked good. Yes, that looked very good. In fact it went on looking better and better, straight along – until by-and-by it grew into positive proof. And then Richards put the matter at once out of his mind, for he had a private instinct that a proof once established is better left so.

      He was feeling reasonably comfortable now, but there was still one other detail that kept pushing itself on his notice: of course he had done that service – that was settled; but what was that service? He must recall it – he would not go to sleep till he had recalled it; it would make his peace of mind perfect. And so he thought and thought. He thought of a dozen things – possible services, even probable services – but none of them seemed adequate, none of them seemed large enough, none of them seemed worth the money – worth the fortune Goodson had wished he could leave in his will. And besides, he couldn’t remember having done them, anyway. Now, then – now, then – what kind of a service would it be that would make a man so inordinately grateful? Ah – the saving of his soul! That must be it. Yes, he could remember, now, how he once set himself the task of converting Goodson, and labored at it as much as – he was going to say three months; but upon closer examination it shrunk to a month, then to a week, then to a day, then to nothing. Yes, he remembered now, and with unwelcome vividness, that Goodson had told him to go to thunder and mind his own business – he wasn’t hankering to follow Hadleyburg to heaven!

      So that solution was a failure – he hadn’t saved Goodson’s soul. Richards was discouraged. Then after a little came another idea: had he saved Goodson’s property? No, that wouldn’t do – he hadn’t any. His life? That is it! Of course. Why, he

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