The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton

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Curtis Wardon Allan. The Strange Adventures of Mr. Middleton

The Manner in Which Mr. Edward Middleton Encounters the Emir Achmed Ben Daoud

The Adventure of the Virtuous Spinster

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Second Gift of the Emir

The Adventure of William Hicks

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Third Gift of the Emir

The Adventure of Norah Sullivan and the Student of Heredity

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Fourth Gift of the Emir

The Pleasant Adventures of Dr. McDill

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Fifth Gift of the Emir

The Adventure of Miss Clarissa Dawson

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Sixth Gift of the Emir

The Unpleasant Adventure of the Faithless Woman

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Seventh Gift of the Emir

The Adventure of Achmed Ben Daoud

What Befell Mr. Middleton Because of the Eighth and Last Gift of the Emir

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Miss Almira Johnson was a virtuous spinster, aged thirty-nine, who lived in a highly respectable boarding-house on the north side. Her days she spent in keeping the books of a large leather firm, in an office which she shared with two male clerks who were married, and a red-headed boy of sixteen, who was small for his age.

On the evening when my tale begins, Miss Almira, tastefully attired for her night’s rest in a white nightgown trimmed with blue lace, was peeping under the bed for the ever-possible man, the nightly rite preliminary to her prayers. She fell back gasping in a vain attempt to scream, but not a sound could she give vent to. The precaution of years had been justified. There lay a man! He was habited in a very genteel frock-suit, patent-leather shoes, and although it must have caused him some inconvenience in his recumbent position, upon his head was a correct plug hat. The elegance and respectability of his garb somewhat reassured Miss Almira, who was unable to believe that one so apparelled could have secreted himself under her bed for an evil purpose, when a new fear seized her, for arguing from this assumption, she concluded he must have been placed there by others and was, in short, dead. Whereupon, having to some degree recovered possession of herself, she was opening her mouth to scream at this new terror, when the man spoke.

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“He will not be robbed while under your roof,” said Mr. Endicott gallantly. “He is safe from robbing now. He will not, he cannot, I may say, be robbed now.”

The sun was touching the western horizon as the steamer glided out of the river’s mouth. The wind lay dead upon the water, and for a space the pair sat in the tender light of declining day indulging in the pleasures of conversation, but at length Mr. Endicott led his wife to their stateroom.

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