The short stories presented in this volume include several by Guy de Maupassant: "Love's Awakening," "Useless Beauty," "In the Moonlight," and "The Horla." Also included are "The Thief" and "The Wedding" by Fyodor Dostoevsky; "The Mysterious Mansion" and "Christ in Flanders" by Honor de Balzac; "The Bet,""The Kiss," "The Lottery Ticket," "A Work of Art," and "The Slanderer" by Anton Chekhov; "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol; "Zodmirsky's Duel" by Alexandre Dumas; "The Shot" by Alexander Pushkin; "The Long Exile" by Leo Tolstoy; and "Captain Burle" by Emile Zola.