|
- Libros en formato PDF -
 The
Piccadilly Puzzle
AT two o’clock
in the morning, during the month of August,
sounds of music could be heard proceeding from a
brilliantly lighted house in Park Lane, where a
ball was being given by the Countess of Kerstoke.
True, the season was long since over, and though
the greater part of London society had migrated,
swallow-like, to the south of Europe in search
of warm weather, still there were enough people
in town to justify the ball being given, and a
number of celebrities were present.
Outside it was dull and chill, with a thick
yellow fog pervading the atmosphere, but within
the great ball-room it was like fairyland with
the brilliant light of the lamps, the profusion
of bright flowers, and the gay dresses worn by
the ladies. The orchestra, hidden behind a
gorgeous screen of tropical plants, was playing
the latest waltz, “A Friend of Mine,” and the
sigh and sob of the melody as it stole softly
through the room seemed to inspire the dancers
with a voluptuous languor as they glided over
the polished floor. The soft frou-frou of
women’s dresses mingled with the light laughter
of young-girls and the whispered confidences of
their partners, while over all dominated the
haunting melody with its weird modulations and
suggestions of sensuous passion...
  The
Gentleman Vanished
It was an oppressively hot night towards
the end of June, and the heavy still atmosphere
surcharged with electricity was full of
premonitions of storm. Here in London the glare
and glitter of myriad lamps seemed to be crushed
down by a lowering sky, in which the stars were
almost hidden by great masses of sombre clouds.
Every now and then a thin thread of lightning
flashed ghost-like through the murky air and the
low hoarse roll of the thunder which followed,
seemed to warn mankind that Nature was in one of
her angry moods. So hot, terribly hot, one could
hardly breathe in the crowded streets, where
throngs of people, well-dressed and otherwise—principally
otherwise—were sweeping along intent on business
and pleasure, paying no attention to the sultry
heavens pressing so cruelly down upon the
panting earth.
The signs and tokens of heaven were not for them,
with their sordid souls longing for gold, or
their empty stomachs yearning for bread, as they
worked, danced, sang, and busied themselves with
the material things of this life, the same to-day
as their forefathers centuries ago on the eve of
that Deluge they did not believe would ever
come...
|
|
Descarga
los
libros
en formato ePub
Descarga
los
libros
en formato MOBI |
Más libros gratis en la
