McAllister and His Double
by Arthur Cheney Train (1875–1945)
- Free to read
- 4 hours to read
- 33 chapters
- Reading level: 7th grade
"McAllister and His Double" by Arthur Cheney Train is a novel written in the early 20th century. The story centers around the main character, McAllister, a clubman who faces an unexpected and tumultuous Christmas when he becomes mistaken for a criminal named Fatty Welch. The narrative explores themes of identity, social class, and fate in a comically embroiled twist of events. The opening of the book introduces McAllister as a somewhat disgruntled clubman who is stuck at his club during the Christmas season, longing for company and feeling irritated by the festive atmosphere surrounding him. His evening takes a dramatic turn when he finds himself in a runaway cab with a dangerous criminal and is soon arrested, believing he is merely a victim of circumstance. McAllister grapples with being mistakenly identified as a notorious thief, leading to a series of unfortunate yet humorous encounters with the police and his former valet, Wilkins. This sets the stage for an engaging exploration of mistaken identity and the chaos that ensues as McAllister seeks to clear his name, discovering both the absurdity of his situation and the inherent struggles of those living on the fringes of society.
- Short stories
- Single men
- Valets
- Mystery and detective stories
Read the opening
Chapter I
McAllister was out of sorts. All the afternoon he had sat in the club window and watched the Christmas shoppers hurrying by with their bundles. He thanked God he had no brats to buy moo-cows and bow-wows for. The very nonchalance of these victims of a fate that had given them families irritated him. McAllister was a clubman, pure and simple; that is to say though neither simple nor pure, he was a clubman and nothing more. He had occupied the same seat by the same window during the greater part of his earthly existence, and they were the same seat and window that his father had filled before him. His select and exclusive circle called him "Chubby," and his five-and-forty years of terrapin and cocktails had given him a graceful rotundity of person that did not belie the name. They had also endowed him with a cheerful though somewhat florid countenance, and a permanent sense of well-being.
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About this edition
This free edition of McAllister and His Double by Arthur Cheney Train comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #34597, released 2010-12-08. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Crime, Thrillers and Mystery, Humour, Novels, American Literature.
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