A name you know. A mood you’re in. Ten minutes to yourself. Start anywhere.
How quickly the story moves.
Two travelers shelter from a storm in a house whose owners disappeared years earlier.
A stranger at a desert campfire tells how four prospectors were trapped in a cave thirty years earlier.
A missing farmer is seen miles from home just as his son becomes the chief murder suspect.
A Union soldier returns to the Tennessee home he left after a bitter family split.
After a private is executed for striking an officer, a battlefield roll call receives an answer no one expects.
On a black, wind-lashed night, a cemetery watchman agrees to guide a lost pilgrim and begins to regret his kindness.
A Russian landowner insults his silent English governess while fishing, certain that language protects him from judgment.
Two peasants keep vigil beside a shrouded stranger while a nervous pilgrim discovers that faith offers little protection from fear.
A drunken father asks his patient son for money, then confesses every lie without finding the strength to stop repeating them.
Penniless after a hospital stay, a nightclub dancer visits an old admirer and finds that ordinary clothes have changed their acquaintance.
A young man hides declarations of love inside the roar of a sled ride, leaving a frightened girl unsure whether hope or the wind is speaking.
A wealthy lover tries to settle an adulterous triangle with cash, only to discover that affection cannot be bought.
A magistrate questions a peasant who cannot understand why taking one railway nut for a fishing weight is a crime.
A sensitive law student joins two friends on a tour of Moscow brothels and finds himself unable to accept their practiced indifference.
A bored husband reads his wife’s rambling letter and lectures her ignorance, exposing a contradiction in what he expects from women.
A family council debates whether to shield a privileged young forger, while the accused listens and decides what kind of man he is.
An eloquent abbot leaves his desert monastery to condemn the city’s sins, then discovers how seductive a warning can become.
A bored lover gains a child’s confidence, then turns the boy’s secret meetings with his father into ammunition for an adult quarrel.
Sheltering from a storm, a fearful forester says wicked men frighten him more than wild beasts—then a cry comes from outside.
A solitary landowner explains how love entered his friends’ household and remained unspoken while duty and hesitation consumed the years.
A strong old actor falls ill far from home, while his theatrical companions mistake remedies and affection for understanding.
An impoverished young bride enters a joyless marriage, then discovers that beauty can confer a power her husband never expected.
An impoverished young woman supports a medical student who treats her body, labor, and loyalty as conveniences.
Once a year, a lazy village drunk becomes an exacting artist whose work belongs to an entire community.
