A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
The readership the story was written for.
A rural court must decide whether an older woman can reclaim land from the young man she raised, supported, and expected never to leave.
A wealthy idler devotes himself to earning the red ribbon he has coveted since childhood, despite having done nothing to deserve it.
A trusted servant attacks his master for money, then becomes the most devoted nurse the wounded man could ask for.
A retired notary asks for a divorce after discovering the ingenious history behind his wife’s advertised fortune.
A learned provincial doctor finds a manuscript that seems to settle the mystery of the soul—and lets one doctrine consume his reason and household.
Five bored men ask a doctor for a new pleasure, and his account of ether offers more temptation than warning.
Lonely and aging, a Parisian baron travels south to meet the grown son he secretly supported but has never seen.
Hussars holding a ruined village turn Twelfth Night into an improvised feast before war abruptly reclaims the evening.
A man who believes himself untouched by age meets the woman he once adored and sees twelve lost years all at once.
At a desolate tarn, a boatman shows a traveler the blood-red cross marking where the Wandering Jew supposedly died.
A seasoned traveller argues that real fear comes not from known danger, but from what the mind cannot explain.
A midnight train encounter leads two travelers through unsettling accounts of the dread inspired by things not yet understood.
A caustic observer attacks Parisian politicians, journalists, and friends whose charm masks fickle loyalties and flexible principles.
A letter from a former lover forces an aging bachelor to compare his remembered youth with the man he has become.
A solitary walker falls in love with a seaside house—and with the unknown woman whose photograph hangs inside.
An old school friend visits a conservative country household and treats their hospitality as permission to remake it.
A lonely traveler reunites with a boastful school friend whose lavish home hides an unexpected family business.
A boulevardier’s sympathy for a young widow in Montmartre Cemetery leads to an affair—and a question about who is hunting whom.
A devoted hunter arrives late for the annual guillemot shoot carrying an obligation that tests the limits of his sporting priorities.
When distant Corsica appears across the evening sea, an old traveler recalls a noblewoman who gave up society for lasting love.
A dying Norman farmer entrusts his son with an address, a secret household, and an obligation no legal will records.
A confirmed bachelor plans to marry a near stranger because one empty armchair has made solitude unbearable.
An uninformed bride mistakes her wedding night for an attack, then becomes convinced a playful dog bite has doomed her honeymoon.
After four years at sea, a sailor returns to Marseille and meets a woman whose questions turn a night of celebration into dread.
