CONTENTS
| PAGE | ||
|---|---|---|
| I. | The Listener Algernon Blackwood | [3] |
| II. | Number 13 Montague Rhodes James | [45] |
| III. | Joseph: A Story Katherine Rickford | [70] |
| IV. | The Horla Guy de Maupassant | [84] |
| V. | The Beast with Five Fingers William F. Harvey | [123] |
| VI. | Sister Maddelena Ralph Adams Cram | [167] |
| VII. | Thrawn Janet Robert Louis Stevenson | [191] |
| VIII. | The Yellow Cat Wilbur Daniel Steele | [207] |
| IX. | Letter to Sura Pliny the Younger | [237] |
MASTERPIECES OF MYSTERY
Masterpieces of Mystery
GHOST STORIES
THE LISTENER[A]
Algernon Blackwood
Sept. 4.—I have hunted all over London for rooms suited to my income—£120 a year—and have at last found them. Two rooms, without modern conveniences, it is true, and in an old, ramshackle building, but within a stone's throw of P— Place and in an eminently respectable street. The rent is only £25 a year. I had begun to despair when at last I found them by chance. The chance was a mere chance, and unworthy of record. I had to sign a lease for a year, and I did so willingly. The furniture from our old place in H—shire, which has been stored so long, will just suit them.
Oct. 1.—Here I am in my two rooms, in the centre of London, and not far from the offices of the
periodicals where occasionally I dispose of an article or two. The building is at the end of a cul-de-sac. The alley is well paved and clean, and lined chiefly with the backs of sedate and institutional-looking buildings. There is a stable in it. My own house is dignified with the title of "Chambers." I feel as if one day the honour must prove too much for it, and it will swell with pride—and fall asunder. It is very old. The floor of my sitting-room has valleys and low hills on it, and the top of the door slants away from the ceiling with a glorious disregard of what is usual. They must have quarrelled—fifty years ago—and have been going apart ever since.