Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
All characters reduced
The Magic Skin - cover

The Magic Skin

Honoré de Balzac

Publisher: Honoré de Balzac

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

Towards the end of the month of October 1829 a young man entered the Palais-Royal just as the gaming-houses opened, agreeably to the law which protects a passion by its very nature easily excisable. He mounted the staircase of one of the gambling hells distinguished by the number 36, without too much deliberation.
“Your hat, sir, if you please?” a thin, querulous voice called out. A little old man, crouching in the darkness behind a railing, suddenly rose and exhibited his features, carved after a mean design.
As you enter a gaming-house the law despoils you of your hat at the outset. Is it by way of a parable, a divine revelation? Or by exacting some pledge or other, is not an infernal compact implied? Is it done to compel you to preserve a respectful demeanor towards those who are about to gain money of you? Or must the detective, who squats in our social sewers, know the name of your hatter, or your own, if you happen to have written it on the lining inside? Or, after all, is the measurement of your skull required for the compilation of statistics as to the cerebral capacity of gamblers? The executive is absolutely silent on this point. But be sure of this, that though you have scarcely taken a step towards the tables, your hat no more belongs to you now than you belong to yourself. Play possesses you, your fortune, your cap, your cane, your cloak.
Available since: 12/18/2016.

Other books that might interest you

  • Opening Wonders - cover

    Opening Wonders

    Rajnar Vajra

    • 0
    • 1
    • 0
    Countless un-parallel universes intersect in a place where science and magic function perfectly. A Crossroads World. A world that holds a fantastic and deadly secret. An ultra-advanced species, the Common, govern this world and invite other advanced species to set up enclaves where the planet's extraordinary properties draw an assortment of gods and demons like supernatural moths to a flame. The first human allowed there, Professor David Goldberg, is secretly tasked by Earth’s governments to observe the Common.But Goldberg’s mission might not be as secret as he thinks. Someone or something with unknown motivations sends truly terrifying monsters bent on taking him down. Opening Wonders. Fantasy, science fiction, mythology, adventure, mystery, rich history—and more.
    Show book
  • The Spark - cover

    The Spark

    Vi Keeland

    • 1
    • 4
    • 0
    A new, sexy standalone from #1 New York Times Bestseller, Vi Keeland.Before I even met Donovan Decker, I knew his shoe size.You see, I’d gone away for a few days, and in my haste to get out of the airport, I’d grabbed the wrong suitcase.After checking out the expensive footwear and tailored clothes, I dialed the number on the luggage tag hoping maybe Mister Big Spender might have my bag.A deep, velvety voice answered, and as luck would have it, he had my suitcase, too.Donovan and I met at a coffee shop to do the exchange.Turned out, it wasn’t just his voice that was sexy. The man holding my luggage was absolutely gorgeous, and we had an immediate spark.He got me to admit that I’d snooped in his bag and then convinced me to make it up to him by letting him buy me coffee.Coffee led to dinner, dinner led to dessert, and dessert led to spending an entire weekend together. Donovan wasn’t just handsome with a panty-dropping voice. He was also funny, smart, and surprisingly down to earth for a man who wore seven-hundred-dollar shoes.Did I mention he also did my laundry while I slept? Definitely too good to be true.So what did I do to repay him for his kindness?I waited until he was in the shower, then ghosted him.My life was too complicated for such a great guy.In the months that passed, I thought about Donovan often.But New York City had eight-million people, so what were the chances I’d run into him?Then again, what were the chances I’d run into him a year later…when I’d just started dating his boss?
    Show book
  • Interracial Group Penetrations: 3-Book Bundle - cover

    Interracial Group Penetrations:...

    Nixie Fairfax

    • 0
    • 2
    • 0
    Three sizzling interracial gangbangs, featuring white women who succumb to the powerful allure of virile, well-hung black men and are soon screaming with wanton bliss as they’re taken hard and unprotected by multiple ebony studs.
    Included in this collection are:
    “Gangbanging the Policewoman” - When police officer Alison barges in on an inner-city gangbang and the girl flees in alarm, the men want Ali to take the girl's place. Though Ali knows she shouldn't, she soon yields to temptation and lets the five incredibly well-hung black men have their way with her.
    “Blacked by the Football Team” – Impetuous coed Nessa has learned of a peephole through which she can watch her college’s hunky all-black football team shower after practice. But when she gets caught peeping by the team, the twelve brawny jocks give the petite blonde a lot more than just an eyeful of their hard, ebony bodies.
    “Gangbanged on My Wedding Night” - When Jessica’s new husband passes out from too much champagne before they can consummate their marriage, she heads to the hotel bar to drink her disappointment away. There, she meets five sexy black bodybuilders whose brazen advances draw the horny young bride into a steamy interracial gangbang.
    Show book
  • The Monster Sex Experiment: Episode 1 - cover

    The Monster Sex Experiment:...

    Nixie Fairfax

    • 1
    • 15
    • 0
    Episode 1 of an ongoing series. Twenty girls from Crestwood High’s Senior class are returning from a field trip when a bright white light engulfs the bus. They awaken to find themselves naked and imprisoned in cells made of some weird, alien substance. Their fear and bewilderment only mount when one of them is gassed by a powerful aphrodisiac and impelled to mate with a huge, hairy monster.
    Show book
  • Monstrous Penetrations Volume 2 (Monster Erotica 4-Book Bundle) - cover

    Monstrous Penetrations Volume 2...

    Nixie Fairfax

    • 1
    • 13
    • 0
    Four more toe-curling tales of sexy young women being roughly taken by insatiable, hugely hung monsters.
    
    Volume 2 includes:
    “The Ultimate Sensation” – Pleasure-seeking heiress Jasmine is spending the summer living it up on the tropical island paradise of Vilau, whose jungles are said to be home to the Panlopa, a shockingly well-endowed Sasquatch-like monster-man. Jasmine scoffs at the stories, but when the natives decide to offer her up to the Panlopa to be its new mate, she soon learns how real the monster is…and she finally finds the ultimate pleasure she has long sought!
    “Caught” – Emmaline’s special bond with canines has always served her well in her job as Tucks Mills’ dog catcher. But that bond sends her life spinning in an unexpected new direction when she meets a handsome stranger who captivates her like no other man she’s ever met. What she doesn’t know is that he’s a werewolf on the hunt for just the right woman for him and his two packmates to mate with…and Emmaline is clearly the one! After catching the dog catcher in a trap of their own, the three virile, well-hung werewolves roughly have their way with her, one after another.
    “Intrusion” – Married scientists Monty and Nerissa think they’re about to make history with a new invention that offers glimpses of alternate dimensions. But during the device’s trial run, a hulking monster appears in the lab, and when it lays eyes on Nerissa, its only aim is to have its way with her. After his attempt to stop the alien intruder leaves him pinned beneath a piece of heavy equipment, Monty can only watch, helpless and horrified yet strangely aroused, as the hugely hung brute claims his wife…and in the process gives her pleasure light-years beyond anything she has ever felt with her nerdy husband.
    “Orced Raw” – After finding evidence of orc activity near the border of her forest homeland, Elara the elvish ranger sets out to investigate. When she recklessly gets too close to their lair, the petite warrior is captured and taken to their arena, where she learns that she has been chosen to become the tribe’s latest broodmare and must now face off against every healthy male orc of the tribe in a battle/mating ritual. In the process, it emerges that her hatred of the orcs masks other, more shameful feelings, and as the brawny, well-hung monsters overwhelm her and roughly have their way with her, she finds herself wracked with bliss the likes of which she has never felt before.
    Show book
  • City of Wishes: The Complete Cinderella Story - cover

    City of Wishes: The Complete...

    Rachel Morgan

    • 9
    • 108
    • 0
    Cinderella retold: A human slave, a fae prince, and a Godmother who’ll grant any wish—if you pay the price.
     
     
     
    In a world of fae, vampires and shifters, where magic is real and wishes can be bought and bargained for, Elle is on society's bottommost rung: she's human.
     
    To make matters worse, she's also a slave, bound to her stepmother by magic.
     
    Her only hope at freedom is to wish for it.
     
    But the Godmother rules the illegal wish trade, and the price she demands is steep.
     
    Elle has never been desperate enough to summon her.
     
    Until now.
     
     
     
    This collection includes all 6 episodes in the CITY OF WISHES Cinderella retelling:
     
    1. The Memory Thief
     
    2. The Vampire Trap
     
    3. The Moonlight Masquerade
     
    4. The Eternal Night
     
    5. The Starlight Quest
     
    6. The Everafter Wish
    Show book