The subject of Markheim, a man failing through weakness, was a favorite topic for Stevenson. Markheim is almost an ideal specimen of the impressionistic short-story. It has a plot in which Hawthorne might justly have revelled, a treatment as intellectual as that of Poe, descriptions not unlike those of Flaubert's, and a moral ending true to the Puritanic type. The movement of the story is swift and possesses perfect unity. The surprise at the end comes as a shock although the author has consistently and logically constructed his plot. GENERAL REFERENCES _Emerson and Other Essays_, John Jay Chapman. _Robert Louis Stevenson_, L. Cope Cornford. _Modern Novelists_, William Lyon Phelps. _Makers of English Fiction_, W.J. Dawson. "Art of Stevenson," _North American Review_, 171: 348-358. "Criticism," _Dial_, 30:345. May 18, 1901. COLLATERAL READINGS _The Suicide Club (New Arabian Nights)_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _The Adventure of the Hansom Cab_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _The Rajah's Diamond_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _The Story of the House with the Green Blinds_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _The Adventure of Prince Florizel and the Detective_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _A Lodging for the Night_, Robert Louis Stevenson, _Providence and the Guitar_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _In the Valley_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _With the Children of Israel_, Robert Louis Stevenson. _The Lotus and the Cockleburrs_, "O. Henry." _Two Bites at a Cherry_, Thomas Bailey Aldrich. _The Notary of Perigueux_, Henry W. Longfellow. MARKHEIM[1] _By Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)_ "Yes," said the dealer, "our windfalls[2] are of various kinds. Some customers are ignorant, and then I touch a dividend[3] on my superior knowledge. Some are dishonest," and here he held up the candle, so that the light fell strongly on his visitor, "and in that case," he continued, "I profit by my virtue." Markheim had but just entered from the daylight streets, and his eyes had not yet grown familiar with the mingled shine and darkness in the shop. At these pointed words, and before the near presence of the flame, he blinked painfully and looked aside.