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  A Daughter of Albion

  Anton Chekhov

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  Albion's Daughter is a story by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov. Written in 1883, first published in 1883 in the magazine "Oskolki" No. 33 for August 13, signed by A. Chekhonte. 'A Daughter of Albion' is a short story hitting out at the free-spirited and broad-minded British of the nineteenth century. The word 'Albion' indicates someone belonging to Great Britain or England. In this story penned by Anton Chekhov, one of the greatest short story writers of the nineteenth century, a British governess is ridiculed by her cynical employer, who is infatuated with her. Her married employer is in a sexual relationship with her despite having a wife and children. He loves spending time with this free-spirited and haughty governess who looks down upon the Russian's backwardness. Because of her, he has taken to fishing all day without caring for his job, family, or friends. Chekhov uses subtle and brazen sexual innuendos to bring out the feelings Gryabov, the landowner, has for Fyce, the British governess.

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  The Gold-Bug

  Edgar Allan Poe

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  The narrative of Edgar Allan Poe's novella, which unfolds on Sullivan's Island (South Carolina), revolves around deciphering an encrypted message and searching for a buried treasure. The story was first published in the Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper in June 1843, after Poe won a contest announced by the newspaper, receiving a prize of $100.

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  The Devoted Friend

  Oscar Wilde

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  Once upon a time, there was a kind and honest man named Hans. He lived alone in a tiny cottage.
  Hans was a little man who owned a beautiful garden, where he grew flowers of all kinds and colours which were sold in the market to make some money. He enjoyed the company of another man called Hugh, a miller who used to visit Hans very often during the summer time and with whom he shared thoughts about friendship and loyalty. Hans was so devoted to Hugh that he even gifted him whole bunches of flowers from his own garden.

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  Glad Ghosts

  D H Lawrence

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  ‘Glad Ghosts’ is another of Lawrence's supernatural stories, set in the archetypical country house. He doesn't attempt to explain the supernatural happenings which occur but uses them to extol his own ideas of the power of the sex drive and the triumph of life over death.

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  Evening Guest An - From their...

  Alexander Kuprin

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  Alexander Kuprin was born in Narovchat, Penza in Russia on 7th September 1870. 
  At 3 his Father died and he and mother moved to Moscow. By 10 he was enrolled at the Second Moscow Military High School and there his interest in literature began. The Alexander Military Academy followed and two years later he was a sub-lieutenant and posted to an Infantry Regiment for a further four years. 
  Despite his duties he was a now a keen writer and published his first short story at this time. His military duties also garnered him experiences for his breakthrough work ‘The Duel’.  Leaving the military he left for Kiev to work for local newspapers.  He continued to publish both stories and novels and by 1901 he was in St Petersburg becoming part of a group that included Chekhov, Ivan Bunin, Maxim Gorky and Leonid Andreyev.  
  In the years that followed further controversial works and acclaim followed.  His comments on the regime meant he was also put under secret police surveillance.   
  As World War I erupted, Kuprin opened a military hospital but was then given command of an infantry company in Finland. He was soon discharged on grounds of ill health.  
  The October Revolution saw him praise Lenin, but he warned that the Bolsheviks threatened Russian culture and might cause further widespread suffering to the peasants.  As Civil War raged he took his family to Helsinki and then on to Paris. 
  Exile saw his talents decline further and his succumbing to alcoholism. He became lonely and withdrawn. The family's poverty increased his malaise.   
  In May 1937, the Kuprin’s returned to Moscow.  He now saw his work published but wrote almost nothing new.  In 1938 his health rapidly deteriorated.  Already suffering from a kidney problems and sclerosis, he had now developed cancer of the oesophagus.  
  Alexander Kuprin died on 25th August 1938.

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  The Adventure of the Abbey Grange

  Arthur Conan Doyle

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  The Adventure of the Abbey Grange, one of the 56 Sherlock Holmes short stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is one of 13 stories in the cycle collected as The Return of Sherlock Holmes.Holmes wakes Doctor Watson up early one winter morning to rush to a murder scene at the Abbey Grange near Chislehurst. Sir Eustace Brackenstall has been killed, apparently by burglars. Inspector Stanley Hopkins believes that it was the infamous Randall gang who have committed several other burglaries in the neighborhood.Holmes and Watson arrive at Abbey Grange. There, Lady Brackenstall tells Holmes that her marriage was not happy. Sir Eustace Brackenstall was a violent, abusive drunkard. She then tells that about 11 o'clock, in the dining room, she encountered an elderly man coming in the French window, followed by two younger men. The older man struck her in the face, knocking her out. When she came to, she was tied to an oaken chair with the bellrope, which they had torn down, and gagged. Then Sir Eustace came into the room, and rushed at the intruders. One of them struck and killed him with a poker. Lady Brackenstall fainted again for a minute or two. She saw the intruders drinking wine from a bottle taken from the sideboard. Then they left, taking some silver plate...Famous works of the author Arthur Conan Doyle: A Study in Scarlet, The Sign of the Four, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, The Valley of Fear, His Last Bow, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, Stories of Sherlock Holmes, The Lost World.

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