The Evil Genius E-Book

Wilkie Collins

• Herausgeber: Wilkie Collins
• Kategorie: Poesie und Drama
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist, playwright, and short story writer. His best-known works are The Woman in White (1859), No Name (1862), Armadale (1866), and The Moonstone (1868), considered the first modern English detective novel. Born into the family of painter William Collins in London, he lived with his family in Italy and France as a child and learned French and Italian. He worked as a clerk for a tea merchant. After his first novel Antonina was published in 1850, he met Charles Dickens, who became a close friend, mentor and collaborator. Some of Collins's works were first published in Dickens' journals All the Year Round and Household Words and the two collaborated on dramatic and fictional works. Collins published his best known works in the 1860s, achieved financial stability and an international reputation. During this time he began suffering from gout took opium for pain and developed an addiction. During the 1870s and '80s the quality of his writing declined along with his health. Collins was critical of the institution of marriage and never married; he split his time between Caroline Graves except for a 2-year separation, and his common law wife Martha Rudd with whom he had 3 children (font: Wikipedia)

Leseprobe

The Evil Genius

Wilkie Collins

Table of Contents

Before the Story.

Miss Westerfield’s Education

The Story

First Book.

Mrs. Presty Presents Herself.

The Governess Enters.

Mrs. Presty Changes Her Mind.

Randal Receives His Correspondence.

Randal Writes to New York.

Sydney Teaches.

Sydney Suffers.

Mrs. Presty Makes a Discovery.

Somebody Attends to the Door.

Kitty Mentions Her Birthday.

Linley Asserts His Authority.

Two of Them Sleep Badly.

Kitty Keeps Her Birthday.

Kitty Feels the Heartache.

Second Book

The Doctor.

The Child.

The Husband.

The Nursemaid.

The Captain.

The Mother-in-Law.

The Governess.

Third Book.

Retrospect.

Separation.

Hostility.

Consultation.

Decision.

Resolution.

Fourth Book.

Mr. Randal Linley.

Mr. Sarrazin.

The Lord President.

Mr. Herbert Linley.

Miss Westerfield.

Mrs. Romsey.

Mrs. Presty.

Captain Bennydeck.

Mr. and Mrs. Herbert.

Mrs. Norman.

Fifth Book.

Hear the Lawyer.

Listen to Reason.

Keep Your Temper.

Make the Best of It.

Try to Excuse Her.

Know Your Own Mind.

Think of Consequences.

Love Your Enemies.

Nil Desperandum.

Better Do It Than Wish It Done.

Be Careful!

Keep the Secret.

Forgiveness to the Injured Doth Belong.

Dum Spiro, Spero.

l’homme propose, et Dieu dispose.

The Largest Nature, the Longest Love.

Let Bygones Be Bygones.

Leave It to the Child.

After the Story

Before the Story.

Miss Westerfield’s Education

1. — The Trial.

THE gentlemen of the jury retired to consider their verdict.

Their foreman was a person doubly distinguished among his colleagues. He had the clearest head, and the readiest tongue. For once the right man was in the right place.

Of the eleven jurymen, four showed their characters on the surface. They were:

The hungry juryman, who wanted his dinner.

The inattentive juryman, who drew pictures on his blotting paper.

The nervous juryman, who suffered from fidgets.

The silent juryman, who decided the verdict.

Of the seven remaining members, one was a little drowsy man who gave no trouble; one was an irritable invalid who served under protest; and five represented that vast majority of the population — easily governed, tranquilly happy — which has no opinion of its own.

The foreman took his place at the head of the table. His colleagues seated themselves on either side of him. Then there fell upon that assembly of men a silence, never known among an assembly of women — the silence which proceeds from a general reluctance to be the person who speaks first.

It was the foreman’s duty, under these circumstances, to treat his deliberative brethren as we treat our watches when they stop: he wound the jury up and set them going.

“Gentlemen,” he began, “have you formed any decided opinion on the case — thus far?”

Some of them said “Yes,” and some of them said “No.” The little drowsy man said nothing. The fretful invalid cried, “Go on!” The nervous juryman suddenly rose. His brethren all looked at him, inspired by the same fear of having got an orator among them. He was an essentially polite man; and he hastened to relieve their minds. “Pray don’t be alarmed, gentlemen: I am not going to make a speech. I suffer from fidgets. Excuse me if I occasionally change my position.” The hungry juryman (who dined early) looked at his watch. “Half-past four,” he said. “For Heaven’s sake cut it short.” He was the fattest person present; and he suggested a subject to the inattentive juryman who drew pictures on his blotting-paper. Deeply interested in the progress of the likeness, his neighbors on either side looked over his shoulders. The little drowsy man woke with a start, and begged pardon of everybody. The fretful invalid said to himself, “Damned fools, all of them!” The patient foreman, biding his time, stated the case.

“The prisoner waiting our verdict, gentlemen, is the Honorable Roderick Westerfield, younger brother of the present Lord Le Basque. He is charged with willfully casting away the British bark John Jerniman, under his command, for the purpose of fraudulently obtaining a share of the insurance money; and further of possessing himself of certain Brazilian diamonds, which formed part of the cargo. In plain words, here is a gentleman born in the higher ranks of life accused of being a thief. Before we attempt to arrive at a decision, we shall only be doing him justice if we try to form some general estimate of his character, based on the evidence — and we may fairly begin by inquiring into his relations with the noble family to which he belongs. The evidence, so far, is not altogether creditable to him. Being at the time an officer of the Royal Navy, he appears to have outraged the feelings of his family by marrying a barmaid at a public-house.”

The drowsy juryman, happening to be awake at that moment, surprised the foreman by interposing a statement. “Talking of barmaids,” he said, “I know a curate’s daughter. She’s in distressed circumstances, poor thing; and she’s a barmaid somewhere in the north of England. Curiously enough, the name of the town has escaped my memory. If we had a map of England —” There he was interrupted, cruelly interrupted, by one of his brethren.

“And by what right,” cried the greedy juryman, speaking under the exasperating influence of hunger —“by what right does Mr. Westerfield’s family dare to suppose that a barmaid may not be a perfectly virtuous woman?”

Hearing this, the restless gentleman (in the act of changing his position) was suddenly inspired with interest in the proceedings. “Pardon me for putting myself forward,” he said, with his customary politeness. “Speaking as an abstainer from fermented liquors, I must really protest against these allusions to barmaids.”