For a moment he held the scrap of paper absently between his fingers, then glancing down at it he spied faintly written, half-obliterated verses and read them; then, with awakened interest, he read them again, Smoothing the torn bit of paper out on his knee.
"The Eye of Dread"
Payne Erskine
Manley began Smoothing his hair and his crumpled clothes with his hands, Good heavens!
"Lonesome Land"
B. M. Bower
"A great many say they would have taken the place at the price themselves," Mrs. Wedge would continue, Smoothing down the folds of her apron, a habit of which she never tired, "but this is not necessarily true.
"The Mystery of the Locks"
Edgar Watson Howe