While such stories as Stevenson's _Merry Men_ and Galsworthy's _Buttercup-Night_ and Poe's _The Fall of the House of Usher_ illustrate in a particularly striking way the dominant influence of setting, we recall scores upon scores of stories that have an added power because their authors have shown skill in the creation of a permeating and directing environment. Among the more famous of these stories are Sarah Orne Jewett's _The Queen's Twin_,[3] Israel Zangwill's _They that Walk in Darkness_, Prosper Merimee's _Mateo Falcone_, Hardy's _Wessex Tales_, Lafcadio Hearn's _Youma_,[4] Jack London's _Children of the Frost_, John Fox's _Christmas Eve on Lonesome_, Edith Wyatt's _In November_,[5] and Mrs. Gerould's _The Moth of Peace_.[6] _Unified impression secured by theme_ Another element of the story which we find interesting to discover and analyze is the author's dominant theme--what in the older days we might have unapologetically called the moral of the story. But along with the development of the technique of the short story, there came a school of critics and writers that shied terribly at this mention of the word moral; and such writers as Stevenson often seemed over-conscious of its lurking danger. In such consciousness, Stevenson wrote wonderful stories of adventure and mystery, such as _Treasure Island_ and _The Sire de Maletroit's Door_. Yet the native instinct toward emphasis upon theme allowed him to write such powerful ethical stories as _Markheim_ and _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_. But in these, as in most of the modern thematic stories, the ethical truth pervades rather than intrudes. It is so firmly woven into incident and character and surroundings and natural dramaturgy that its identity is not exposed to naked bareness, but combines with other elements to produce a perfect unity through harmony of tone and effect.