
In a quiet suburban lane, a retired officer known as Colonel Crane maintains a meticulous Sunday ritual, marching to church in crisp uniform and habit. On one particular morning, a cryptic note arrives, forcing him to pause his practiced steps and stare intently at a lone red daisy before setting off toward his garden. This seemingly minor disruption hints at the absurd and uncanny events that lie just beyond the ordinary.
Beside him is Archer, his loyal garden‑hand who blends the dignity of a butler with the earthy enthusiasm of a country craftsman. Their partnership, forged in the trenches of a bygone war, becomes the conduit for a series of tall, almost impossible stories that ripple through the tranquil neighborhood. Listeners are invited into a world where the prosaic surface masks delightful paradoxes, inviting both gentle humor and a sense of wonder at what might happen when the mundane meets the extraordinary.
Language
en
Duration
~5 hours (341K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: Dodd, Mead and Company,1925.
Credits
Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was produced from images made available by the HathiTrust Digital Library.)
Release date
2022-10-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1874–1936
Best known for creating Father Brown, this English writer brought wit, paradox, and a love of argument to everything from detective stories to essays and Christian apologetics. His books are lively, funny, and often surprisingly modern in the questions they ask.
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