Other Stories (Paperback)

Other Stories Book Description

TO MY FAVOURITE ARM-CHAIR. To you I rislit o dedicate this little vol uuie, t he contents of h i calrle in no small clegree the outcome of pleasant dreams and strange thoughts which h a eco me to me whilst drowsily reclining in your arnls. It is trne that a jealous and censorious world nlay raise the objection that you cannot read my book but, granting the correctness of the remark, I can see therein no reason 1vhy I shoulcl change my intention. If you cannot reacl you cannot fincl fault, ancl if you cannot find fault, that is the nest best thing to praise. And although you may, from special circunistances, be ulable to praise nly bo, ok, you have at least clone much in assisting the inspiration from which it has sprung. You are so sootlling, so soft, so remarkably comfortable, that it is impossible not to think of amusing things when one is with yon, and you never annoy or worry liilil who seeks you in his hour of leisure. From you proceeds no nnkind word or hasty rebuke no fault of temper on your part disturbs his tranq illi ty b ut, preserving ever the calm ancl unruffiecl demeanour of your race, you receive a happy occupant only to lull hi111 to repose, to give liini rest alike in body and in spirit, aucl to nlalie him, for tlie time at least, forget the troubles ancl anxieties of this restless world. To you, therefore, I respectfully and lovingly dedicate this off spring of the idle moments which you have so often macle happy, and though, as a member of Parliament, I enjoy freedom from arrest, I hope still frequently to obtain a rest from you, and again to be honoured with the soothing iuspiration which you are so well able to bestow. - With the most profound esteem, I s bscribmey self your constant and contented occupant, E, H. KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN. COSTESTS. PACE Y1 ISCE - IAIC, lFLETE. PAI T I. . 1 LEGESD OF ST. DDERFEI, . . 121 OTHER STORIES. PRINCE RIABAFLETE OR, THE TWO-NOSED PRIKCE. PART I. THERE w as ollce a Prince who differed in one respect from all other Princes of his time, and, for that matter, from all other Princes that I ever heard of, at whatever time they happen to have existed. He had a most peculiar defect, for which no one could account, and which no one who had not actually seen him would ever have beliered him to possess. The generality of men, having two eyes, a nose and a mouth, are satisfied with the arrangement which nature has made for them. This Prince, howcrer, had not oilly two eyes but two noses, each placed above his mouth, at an equal distance from that organ, and each peifectly competent to have discharged the functions of m ordinary nose without the assistance of a partner or the example of a rival. To bo sure, one of the two noses was a trifle better-shaped than the other, at least in the judgment of those Tvho prefer an aquiline nose to one which is vulgarly called snub. But both were gifted with a keen sense of smell, both were equally susceptible of the unpleasant consequences of the 2 OTYiER STORIES. eatching by their owner of a cold in the head, and both were alike sensible of the startling effects of being roughly pulled by alien fingers, although the rank and dignity of their master naturally protected them from the probability of any such disaster. It is not, however, to be disputed, that no man, vhether prince or peasant, eould be expected to consider such a condition of face to be entirely satisfactory...

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