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A Strange Story — Complete
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A Strange Story — Complete
Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton
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CHAPTER I. In the year 18-- I settled as a physician at one of the wealthiest of
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CHAPTER II. I had been about six years at L---- when I became suddenly involved in
Reading
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CHAPTER III. It was some time before I could shake off the impression made on me by
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CHAPTER IV. I had now arrived at that age when an ambitious man, satisfied with
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CHAPTER V. And before that evening I had looked on Mr. Vigors with supreme
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CHAPTER VI. Mrs. Poyntz was seated on the sofa; at her right sat fat Mrs. Bruce, who
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CHAPTER VII. I have given a sketch of the outward woman of Mrs. Colonel Poyntz. The
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CHAPTER VIII. When I returned to the drawing-room, the party was evidently about to
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CHAPTER IX. In a very few minutes I was once more in the grounds of that old gable
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CHAPTER X. To the true physician there is an inexpressible sanctity in the sick
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CHAPTER XI. With what increased benignity I listened to the patients who visited me
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CHAPTER XII. But suddenly I remembered Mrs. Poyntz. I ought to call on her. So I
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CHAPTER XIII. The next day I had just dismissed the last of my visiting patients, and
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CHAPTER XIV. Mrs. Ashleigh received us in the dining-room. Her manner to me, at
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CHAPTER XV. In less than a week Lilian was convalescent; in less than a fortnight
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CHAPTER XVI. It was with a wrath suppressed in the presence of the fair ambassadress,
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CHAPTER XVII. How did I utter it? By what words did my heart make itself known? I
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CHAPTER XVIII. In spite of the previous assurance of Mrs. Poyntz, it was not without an
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CHAPTER XIX. From that evening till the day Mrs. Ashleigh and Lilian went on the
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CHAPTER XX. During the busy years of my professional career, I had snatched leisure
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CHAPTER XXI. The next day, the last of the visiting patients to whom my forenoons
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CHAPTER XXII. That evening I went to Mrs. Poyntz’s; it was one of her ordinary
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CHAPTER XXIII. It was late in the afternoon of the following day before I was able to
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CHAPTER XXIV. The house I occupied at L---- was a quaint, old-fashioned building, a
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CHAPTER XXV. My intercourse with Margrave grew habitual and familiar. He came to
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CHAPTER XXVI. Increased intimacy with my new acquaintance did not diminish the charm
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CHAPTER XXVII. When Margrave had gone, I glanced at the clock,--not yet nine. I
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CHAPTER XXVIII. The conversation with Mrs. Poyntz left my mind restless and disquieted.
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CHAPTER XXIX. I did not see Margrave the following day, but the next morning, a little
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CHAPTER XXX. I called that day on Mrs. Poyntz, and communicated to her the purport of
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CHAPTER XXXI. It is the night of the mayor’s ball! The guests are assembling fast;
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CHAPTER XXXII. MARGRAVE threw himself on a seat just under the great anaconda; I closed
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CHAPTER XXXIII. My recollections of all which I have just attempted to describe were
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CHAPTER XXXIV. I walked on slowly and with the downcast brow of a man absorbed in
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CHAPTER XXXV. On reaching my own home, I found my servant sitting up for me with the
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CHAPTER XXXVI. The belief prevalent in the town ascribed the murder of Sir Philip to
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CHAPTER XXXVII. Let me recall it--softly,--softly! Let me recall that evening spent
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. Letter from Allen Fenwick to Lilian Ashleigh.
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CHAPTER XXXIX. The Manuscript was written in a small and peculiar handwriting, which,
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CHAPTER XL. The dead man’s manuscript was gone. But how? A phantom might delude my
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CHAPTER XLI. The lawyer came the next day, and with something like a smile on his
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CHAPTER XLII. It was twilight when I entered, unannounced (as had been my wont in our
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CHAPTER XLIII. I was just outside the garden door, when I felt an arm thrown round me,
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CHAPTER XLIV. The next day my house was filled with visitors. I had no notion that I
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CHAPTER XLV. Explanation on Faber’s part was short and simple. The nephew whom he
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CHAPTER XLVI. Julius Faber and Amy Lloyd stayed in my house three days, I and in their
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CHAPTER XLVII. That night, as I sat in my study, very thoughtful and very mournful, I
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CHAPTER XLVIII. Not till the law had completed its proceedings, and satisfied the public
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CHAPTER XLIX. I had no case that necessitated my return to L---- the following day.
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CHAPTER L. “What a strange-looking cane you have, sir!” said a little girl, who was one of the party, and who had entwined her arm round Margrave’s. “Let me look at it.”
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CHAPTER LI. When we separated for the night, which we did at eleven o’clock,
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CHAPTER LII. A heavy sleep came over me at daybreak, but I did not undress nor go to
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CHAPTER LIII. There is an instance of the absorbing tyranny of every-day life which
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CHAPTER LIV. Some days after, I received a few lines from Mrs. Ashleigh. Her
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CHAPTER LV. It seemed incredible that Lilian could wander far without being
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CHAPTER LVI. Lilian recovered, but the strange thing was this: all memory of the
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CHAPTER LVII. Mrs. Poyntz was on her favourite seat by the window, and for a wonder,
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CHAPTER LVIII. If ever my heart vowed itself to Lilian, the vow was now the most
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CHAPTER LIX. How innocent was Lilian’s virgin blush when I knelt to her, and prayed
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CHAPTER LX. The beautiful lake! We two are on its grassy margin,--twilight melting
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CHAPTER LXI. Twenty days--the happiest my life had ever known--thus glided on. Apart
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CHAPTER LXII. Our vows are exchanged at the altar, the rite which made Lilian my wife
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CHAPTER LXIII. And the cause of this direful shock? Not this time could it be traced
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CHAPTER LXIV. Lilian’s wondrous gentleness of nature did not desert her in the
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CHAPTER LXV. The blow that had fallen on my hearth effectually, inevitably killed
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CHAPTER LXVI. I unfolded my new prospects to Mrs. Ashleigh. She was more easily
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CHAPTER LXVII. On reaching the house, a formal man-servant, with indifferent face,
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CHAPTER LXVIII. That night as I was employed in collecting the books and manuscripts
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CHAPTER LXIX. I had hoped that the voyage would produce some beneficial effect upon
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CHAPTER LXX. The voyage is over. At the seaport at which we landed I found a letter
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CHAPTER LXXI. “You may remember,” said Julius Faber, “Sir Humphry Davy’s eloquent description of the effect produced on him by the inhalation of nitrous oxide. He states that he began to lose the perception of external things; trains of vivid visible images rapidly passed through his mind, and were connected with words in such a manner as to produce perceptions perfectly novel. ‘I existed,’ he said, ‘in a world of newly-connected and newly-modified ideas.’ When he recovered, he exclaimed: ‘Nothing exists but thoughts; the universe is composed of impressions, ideas, pleasures, and pains!’
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CHAPTER LXXII. I turned back alone. The sun was reddening the summits of the distant
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CHAPTER LXXIII. Months upon months have rolled on since the night in which Lilian had
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CHAPTER LXXIV. My Work, my Philosophical Work--the ambitious hope of my intellectual
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CHAPTER LXXV. I found Mrs. Ashleigh waiting for me in our usual sitting-room. She
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CHAPTER LXXVI. I strayed through the forest till noon, in debate with myself, and
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CHAPTER LXXVII. To those of my readers who may seek with Julius Faber to explore,
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CHAPTER LXXVIII. I left Faber on the stairs, and paused at the door of Lilian’s room. The
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CHAPTER LXXIX. That interview is over! Again I am banished from Lilian’s room; the
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CHAPTER LXXX. Along the grass-track I saw now, under the moon, just risen, a strange
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CHAPTER LXXXI. Margrave now entered the litter, and the Veiled Woman drew the black
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CHAPTER LXXXII. “So,” said Margrave, turning to me, “under the soil that spreads around us lies the gold which to you and to me is at this moment of no value, except as a guide to its twin-born,--the regenerator of life!”
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CHAPTER LXXXIII. The gold has been gained with an easy labour. I knew where to seek for
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CHAPTER LXXXIV. While we had thus laboured and found, Ayesha had placed the fuel where
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CHAPTER LXXXV. On the ground a wide circle was traced by a small rod, tipped apparently
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CHAPTER LXXXVI. One hour passed away; the fagots under the caldron burned clear in
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CHAPTER LXXXVII. The fifth hour had passed away, when Ayesha said to me, “Lo! the circle
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CHAPTER LXXXVIII. When my sense had recovered its shock, and my eyes looked dizzily round,
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CHAPTER LXXXIX. I descended into the valley; the armed men followed. The path, on that
Chapter 2 of 89
CHAPTER II. I had been about six years at L---- when I became suddenly involved in
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