The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Issue 1Chapman and Hall, 1870 - 289 pages The biggest mystery of The Mystery of Edwin Drood is how it ends. It began as a serial, as nearly all of Dickens' novels did, but only six installments were published before the author's death in 1870. What we know about Edwin Drood is this: he is betrothed to a young woman named Rosa Bud; they are fond of each other, but uncertain about their future together. Jasper John--Edwin's older uncle and a frequenter of London's opium dens--is infatuated with Rosa, as is Neville Landless, and the two begin to compete for her affection behind the scenes. Then, on Christmas Eve, Drood disappears, leaving behind only a pin and a pocket watch. What became of Edwin Drood that fateful night is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in literature and it continues to intrigue readers, writers, and literary historians more than 100 years after Dickens' death. This is a free digital copy of a book that has been carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. To make this print edition available as an ebook, we have extracted the text using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology and submitted it to a review process to ensure its accuracy and legibility across different screen sizes and devices. Google is proud to partner with libraries to make this book available to readers everywhere. |
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Common terms and phrases
answer asked assent BARNABY RUDGE Bazzard better Billickin brother Cathedral chair Cloisterham cries Rosa Crisparkle Crisparkle's dark Datchery Dean dear boy deary Deputy dinner ditto DOMBEY AND SON door Durdles Eddy Edwin Drood eyes face feel fellow fire Furnival's Inn Gate House gentleman Grewgious guardian hand head Helena Honeythunder hope Jack John Jasper leave light LITTLE DORRIT look MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT mean mind Minor Canon Corner Miss Landless Miss Twinkleton Mister Jarsper nephew never Neville Landless night Nuns old lady once pass perhaps Philanthropist PICKWICK PAPERS poor pretty Pussy replies returned Reverend Septimus Rosa's Sapsea says Edwin seemed sister SKETCHES BY BOZ speak stairs Staple Inn stone stopped street suppose sure Tartar tell thing thought to-night Tope touch turn voice vols walk watch Widdy window word young lady
Popular passages
Page 98 - The dawn is overcast, the morning lowers, And heavily in clouds brings on the day, The great, th' important day ?
Page 90 - They go on, presently passing the red windows of the Travellers' Twopenny, and emerging into the clear moonlight of the Monks
Page 189 - She is behind a pillar, carefully withdrawn from the choirmaster's view, but regards him with the closest attention. All unconscious of her presence, he chants and sings. She grins when he is most musically fervid, and - yes, Mr Datchery sees her do it! shakes her fist at him behind the pillar's friendly shelter. Mr Datchery looks again, to convince himself. Yes, again! As ugly and withered as one of the fantastic carvings on the under brackets of the stall seats...
Page 91 - ... way. The cause of this is not to be found in any local superstition that attaches to the Precincts — albeit a mysterious lady, with a child in her arms and a rope dangling from her neck, has been seen flitting about there by sundry witnesses as intangible as herself — but it is to be sought in the innate shrinking of dust with the breath of life in it from dust out of which the breath of life has
Page 189 - At length he rises, throws open the door of a corner cupboard, and refers to a few uncouth chalked strokes on its inner side. "I like,
Page 33 - The Reverend Septimus Crisparkle (Septimus, because six little brother Crisparkles before him went out, one by one, as they were born, like six weak little rushlights, as they were lighted), having broken the thin morning ice near Cloisterham Weir with his amiable head, much to the invigoration of his frame, was now assisting his circulation by boxing at a looking-glass with great science and prowess.
Page 1 - Maybe it is set up by the Sultan's orders for the impaling of a horde of Turkish robbers, one by one. It is so, for cymbals clash, and the Sultan goes by to his palace in long procession* Ten thousand scimitars flash in the sunlight, and thrice ten thousand dancing-girls strew flowers. Then, follow white elephants caparisoned in countless gorgeous colours, and infinite in number and attendants. Still the Cathedral Tower rises in the background, where it cannot be, and still no writhing figure is...
Page 13 - As, in some cases of drunkenness, and in others of animal magnetism, there are two states of consciousness which never clash, but each of which pursues its separate course as though it were continuous instead of broken...
Page 114 - No such power of wind has blown for many a winter night. Chimneys topple in the streets, and people hold to posts and corners, and to one another, to keep themselves upon their feet.
Page 46 - He has made a slave of me with his looks. He has forced me to understand him, without his saying a word ; and he has forced me to keep silence, without his uttering a threat. When I play, he never moves his eyes from my hands. When I sing, he never moves his eves from my lips.