Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Barbara Tozier and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration] A CHOSEN FEW SHORT STORIES BY FRANK R. STOCKTON WITH AN ETCHED PORTRAIT BY W. H. W. BICKNELL NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1895 Copyright, 1895, by CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS THE DE VINNE PRESS. PREFACE The stories contained in this little volume were chosen, by virtue of a sort of literary civil-service examination, in order that they might be grouped together as a representative class of the author's best-known work in this line. Several of these stories have points of peculiar interest to the author. For instance, "Negative Gravity" was composed in Switzerland when the author was temporarily confined to the house in full view of unreachable Alps. "His Wife's Deceased Sister" was suggested by an editorial disposition to compare all the author's work with one previous production, and to discard everything which did not accord exactly with the particular story which had been selected as a standard of merit. "The Lady, or the Tiger?" was printed in the hope that the author might receive the cheerful cooperation of some of his readers in a satisfactory solution of the problem contained in the little story; but although he has had much valuable assistance in this direction he has also been the recipient of a great deal of scolding. After reading several stories by Clark Russell, the author's mind was led to consider the possibility of inventing some sort of shipwreck which had never yet been made the subject of a story. His efforts in this line resulted in "The Remarkable Wreck of the 'Thomas Hyke.'" "A Piece of Red Calico" is a description, with exaggerated points, of an actual experience. CONTENTS A TALE OF NEGATIVE GRAVITY From "The Christmas Wreck" ASAPH From "The Watchmaker's Wife" "HIS WIFE'S DECEASED SISTER" From "The Lady, or the Tiger?" THE LADY, OR THE TIGER? THE REMARKABLE WRECK OF THE "THOMAS HYKE" From "The Christmas Wreck" OLD PIPES AND THE DRYAD From "The Bee-man of Orn" THE TRANSFERRED GHOST From "The Lady, or the Tiger?" "THE PHILOSOPHY OF RELATIVE EXISTENCES" From "The Watchmaker's Wife" A PIECE OF RED CALICO From "The Lady, or the Tiger?" A TALE OF NEGATIVE GRAVITY