Classic Short Story

 A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin Little Mrs. Sommers one day found herself the unexpected possessor of fifteen dollars. It seemed to her a very large amount of money, and the way in which it stuffed and bulged her worn old porte-monnaie gave her a feeling of importance such as she had not enjoyed for years.The question of investment was one that occupied … [Read more...] about A Pair of Silk Stockings by Kate Chopin

THE FALSE GEMS by Guy De Maupassant Problems with formatting? Click here. Monsieur Lantin had met the young girl at a reception at the house of the second head of his department, and had fallen head over heels in love with her. She was the daughter of a provincial tax collector, who had been dead several years. She and her mother came to live in Paris, where the latter, … [Read more...] about THE FALSE GEMS by Guy De Maupassant

 The River by Ed Nichols  John Cabe liked to eat his lunch in the gazebo. The roof provided shade and the open sides let him watch the town square. He always ate his lunch in the gazebo after he finished mowing the courthouse lawn. He ate slowly and sipped iced tea from his thermos. Occasionally a warm breeze would bring the cut grass smell through the gazebo.He … [Read more...] about The River by Ed Nichols

The Vision of the Fountain by Nathaniel HawthorneAt fifteen I became a resident in a country village more than a hundred miles from home. The morning after my arrival a September morning, but warm and bright as any in July I rambled into a wood of oaks with a few walnut trees intermixed, forming the closest shade above my head. The ground was rocky, uneven, overgrown with … [Read more...] about The Vision of the Fountain by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood Certain houses, like certain persons, manage somehow to proclaim at once their character for evil. In the case of the latter, no particular feature need betray them; they may boast an open countenance and an ingenuous smile; and yet a little of their company leaves the unalterable conviction that there is something radically amiss with … [Read more...] about The Empty House by Algernon Blackwood

What Five Dollars Paid by T. S. Arthur Mr. Herriot was sitting in his office, one day, when a lad entered, and handed him a small slip of paper. It was a bill for five dollars, due to his shoemaker, a poor man who lived in the next square."Tell Mr. Grant that I will settle this soon. It isn't just convenient to-day."The boy retired.Now, Mr. Herriot had a … [Read more...] about What Five Dollars Paid by T. S. Arthur

A STORY OF RAVENNA By Boccaccio Ravenna being a very ancient city in Romagna, there dwelt sometime a great number of worthy gentlemen, among whom I am to speak of one more especially, named Anastasio, descended from the family of Onesti, who by the death of his father, and an uncle of his, was left extraordinarily abounding in riches and growing to years fitting for marriage. … [Read more...] about A STORY OF RAVENNA By Boccaccio

THE HAUNTED MIND by Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864) What a singular moment is the first one, when you have hardly begun to recollect yourself, after starting from midnight slumber! By unclosing your eyes so suddenly you seem to have surprised the personages of your dream in full convocation round your bed, and catch one broad glance at them before they can flit into … [Read more...] about THE HAUNTED MIND by Nathaniel Hawthorne

The Inconsiderate Waiter By James Matthew Barrie Frequently I have to ask myself in the street for the name of the man I bowed to just now, and then, before I can answer, the wind of the first corner blows him from my memory. I have a theory, however, that those puzzling faces, which pass before I can see who cut the coat, all belong to club-waiters.Until William forced … [Read more...] about The Inconsiderate Waiter by James Matthew Barrie

After A Shadow by T. S. Arthur "ARTY! Arty!" called Mrs. Mayflower, from the window, one bright June morning. "Arty, darling! What is the child after Just look at him, Mr. Mayflower!"I leaned from the window, in pleasant excitement, to see what new and wonderful performance had been attempted by my little prodigy my first born my year old bud of beauty, the folded leaves … [Read more...] about After A Shadow by T. S. Arthur

THREE QUESTIONS by Leo Tolstoy It once occurred to a certain king, that if he always knew the right time to begin everything; if he knew who were the right people to listen to, and whom to avoid; and, above all, if he always knew what was the most important thing to do, he would never fail in anything he might undertake.And this thought having occurred to him, he had it … [Read more...] about THREE QUESTIONS by Leo Tolstoy

THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) This thing is so rare in all its circumstances, and on so good authority, that my reading and conversation have not given me anything like it. It is fit to gratify the most ingenious and serious inquirer. Mrs. Bargrave is the person to whom Mrs. Veal appeared after her death; she is my intimate friend, and I can avouch for … [Read more...] about THE APPARITION OF MRS. VEAL by Daniel Defoe

A LONELY RIDE by Bret Harte As I stepped into the Slumgullion stage I saw that it was a dark night, a lonely road, and that I was the only passenger. Let me assure the reader that I have no ulterior design in making this assertion. A long course of light reading has forewarned me what every experienced intelligence must confidently look for from such a statement. The … [Read more...] about A LONELY RIDE by Bret Harte

ANARCHY ALLEY Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson To the casual observer, the quaint, narrow, little alley that lies in the heart of the city is no more than any other of the numerous divisions of streets in which New Orleans delights. But to the idle wanderer, or he whose mission down its four squares of much trodden stones, is an aimless one, whose eyes unforced to bend to the … [Read more...] about ANARCHY ALLEY by Alice Ruth Moore Dunbar Nelson

The Mass of Shadows By ANATOLE FRANCEThis tale the sacristan of the church of St. Eulalie at Neuville d'Aumont told me, as we sat under the arbor of the White Horse, one fine summer evening, drinking a bottle of old wine to the health of the dead man, now very much at his ease, whom that very morning he had borne to the grave with full honors, beneath a pall powdered with … [Read more...] about The Mass of Shadows By ANATOLE FRANCE

Mud Road to Passchendaele by Douglas W. Culham, 1917 The Bowmen By ARTHUR MACHENIt was during the Retreat of the Eighty Thousand, and the authority of the Censorship is sufficient excuse for not being more explicit. But it was on the most awful day of that awful time, on the day when ruin and disaster came so near that their shadow fell over London far away; and, without … [Read more...] about The Bowmen By ARTHUR MACHEN

SOLANGE: DR. LEDRU'S STORY OF THE REIGN OF TERROR Leaving l'Abbaye, I walked straight across the Place Turenne to the Rue Tournon, where I had lodgings, when I heard a woman scream for help.It could not be an assault to commit robbery, for it was hardly ten o'clock in the evening. I ran to the corner of the place whence the sounds proceeded, and by the light of the moon, … [Read more...] about SOLANGE BY ALEXANDRE DUMAS

THE BET by Anton ChekhovIT WAS a dark autumn night. The old banker was walking up and down his study and remembering how, fifteen years before, he had given a party one autumn evening. There had been many clever men there, and there had been interesting conversations. Among other things they had talked of capital punishment. The majority of the guests, among whom were many … [Read more...] about THE BET by Anton Chekhov

   THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of wealth, he refused to … [Read more...] about THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne By Anthony Trollope (London Review, 2 March 1861)The prettiest scenery in all England—and if I am contradicted in that assertion, I will say in all Europe—is in Devonshire, on the southern and southeastern skirts of Dartmoor, where the rivers Dart and Avon and Teign form themselves, and where the broken moor is half cultivated, and the … [Read more...] about The Parson’s Daughter of Oxney Colne By Anthony Trollope

EGYPT THE UNWRAPPING OF A MUMMY by THOPHILE GAUTIERDuring the Exhibition of 1857, I was invited to be present at the opening of one of the mummy cases in the collection of Egyptian antiquities, and at the unwrapping of the mummy it contained. My curiosity was indeed lively. My readers will easily understand the reason: the scene at which I was to be present I had imagined … [Read more...] about THE UNWRAPPING OF A MUMMY by THOPHILE GAUTIER

Portrait of the Painter's Daughter Anna Catharina A DAUGHTER OF THE LODGE by GEORGE GISSING For a score of years the Rocketts had kept the lodge of Brent Hall. In the beginning Rockett was head gardener; his wife, the daughter of a shopkeeper, had never known domestic service, and performed her duties at the Hall gates with a certain modest dignity not displeasing to the … [Read more...] about A DAUGHTER OF THE LODGE by GEORGE GISSING

A WHITE HERON.Sarah Orne JewettI.The woods were already filled with shadows one June evening, just before eight o'clock, though a bright sunset still glimmered faintly among the trunks of the trees. A little girl was driving home her cow, a plodding, dilatory, provoking creature in her behavior, but a valued companion for all that. They were going away from whatever … [Read more...] about A WHITE HERON by Sarah Orne Jewett

THE SELFISH GIANTEvery afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant's garden.It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach-trees that in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the … [Read more...] about THE SELFISH GIANT by Oscar Wilde

The Black Veil One winter's evening, towards the close of the year 1800, or within a year or two of that time, a young medical practitioner, recently established in business, was seated by a cheerful fire in his little parlor, listening to the wind which was beating the rain in pattering drops against the window or rumbling dismally in the chimney. The night was wet and cold; … [Read more...] about The Black Veil by Charles Dickens

THE REAL THING CHAPTER IWhen the porter's wife, who used to answer the house-bell, announced "A gentleman and a lady, sir," I had, as I often had in those days?the wish being father to the thought?an immediate vision of sitters. Sitters my visitors in this case proved to be; but not in the sense I should have preferred. There was nothing at first however to indicate that … [Read more...] about THE REAL THING by Henry James

Zadig the BabylonianTHE BLIND OF ONE EYEFRAN?OIS MARIE AROUET DE VOLTAIREThere lived at Babylon, in the reign of King Moabdar, a young man named Zadig, of a good natural disposition, strengthened and improved by education. Though rich and young, he had learned to moderate his passions; he had nothing stiff or affected in his behavior, he did not pretend to examine … [Read more...] about Zadig the Babylonian by Voltaire

THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND THE WEDDING If you have formatting issues, click here.The other day I saw a wedding? But no! I would rather tell you about a Christmas tree. The wedding was superb. I liked it immensely. But the other incident was still finer. I don't know why it is that the sight of the wedding reminded me of the Christmas tree. This is the way it … [Read more...] about THE CHRISTMAS TREE AND THE WEDDING BY FIODOR M. DOSTOYEVSKY

Painting by Vladimir Makovsky How Much Land Does a Man Need by Leo Tolstoy IAn elder sister came to visit her younger sister in the country. The elder was married to a tradesman in town, the younger to a peasant in the village. As the sisters sat over their tea talking, the elder began to boast of the advantages of town life: saying how comfortably they lived there, how … [Read more...] about HOW MUCH LAND DOES A MAN NEED? by Leo Tolstoy

BARTLEBY, THE SCRIVENER by Herman Melville BARTLEBY, THE SCRIVENER.A STORY OF WALL-STREET.I am a rather elderly man. The nature of my avocations for the last thirty years has brought me into more than ordinary contact with what would seem an interesting and somewhat singular set of men, of whom as yet nothing that I know of has ever been written:—I mean the … [Read more...] about BARTLEBY, THE SCRIVENER by Herman Melville

Paul's Case Paul's CaseIt was Paul's afternoon to appear before the faculty of the Pittsburgh High School to account for his various misdemeanours. He had been suspended a week ago, and his father had called at the Principal's office and confessed his perplexity about his son. Paul entered the faculty room suave and smiling. His clothes were a trifle out-grown, and the tan … [Read more...] about Paul’s Case by Willa Cather

A FIGHT WITH A CANNON La vieuville was suddenly cut short by a cry of despair, and a the same time a noise was heard wholly unlike any other sound. The cry and sounds came from within the vessel. The captain and lieutenant rushed toward the gun-deck but could not get down. All the gunners were pouring up in dismay. Something terrible had just happened. One of the carronades … [Read more...] about A FIGHT WITH A CANNON by Victor Hugo

THE LADY, OR THE TIGER? In the very olden time there lived a semi-barbaric king, whose ideas, though somewhat polished and sharpened by the progressiveness of distant Latin neighbors, were still large, florid, and untrammeled, as became the half of him which was barbaric. He was a man of exuberant fancy, and, withal, of an authority so irresistible that, at his will, he turned … [Read more...] about The Lady or the Tiger by Frank R. Stockton

Walking woman with dog by Ernst Ludwig KirchnerThe Lady With The Dog It was said that a new person had appeared on the sea-front: a lady with a little dog. Dmitri Dmitritch Gurov, who had by then been a fortnight at Yalta, and so was fairly at home there, had begun to take an interest in new arrivals. Sitting in Verney's pavilion, he saw, walking on the sea-front, a … [Read more...] about The Lady With The Dog by Anton Chekhov

(First published 1867)Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County By Mark Twain (1835-1910) In compliance with the request of a friend of mine, who wrote me from the East, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and inquired after my friend's friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as requested to do, and I hereunto append the result. I have a lurking suspicion that … [Read more...] about The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County By Mark Twain