My friend, let us always tell stories . . .
Time passes, and the story of life
comes to an end, unnoticed.
—DIDEROT
The various stories that make up this volume are only a selection and could have been added to, had it not been advisable to keep the book within a reasonable length. This is the fifth collection I have published. The words of Diderot that appear as its epigraph serve as an apology to those who consider such a large number of stories to be excessive. They are simply a way of passing the time. They do not aspire to endure like the stories written by that same esteemed philosopher. They lack both the matter and the style that give Mérimée’s tales the status of masterpieces and make Poe one of the greatest writers in America. It is, of course, quality rather than length that counts with this kind of story, and the mediocre short story has one quality that gives it an advantage over the mediocre novel: it is short.