*The* *Best Short Stories* *of 1918* AND THE YEARBOOK OF THE AMERICAN SHORT STORY EDITED BY EDWARD J. O’BRIEN EDITOR OF “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1915,” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1916,” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1917,” ETC. BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1918, by The Boston Transcript Company. Copyright, 1918, by The New York Tribune, Inc. Copyright, 1918, by The Frank A. Munsey Company, Harper & Brothers, The Story-Press Corporation, Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc., The Curtis Publishing Company, The Atlantic Monthly Company, Charles Scribner’s Sons, The Pictorial Review Company, The Stratford Journal, The Century Company, and P. F. Collier & Son, Inc. Copyright, 1919, by Achmed Abdullah, Edwina Stanton Babcock, Charles Caldwell Dobie, George Humphrey, Arthur Johnson, Sinclair Lewis, Harrison Rhodes, Fleta Campbell Springer, Wilbur Daniel Steele, Edward C. Venable, Mary Heaton O’Brien, Frances Gilchrist Wood, William Dudley Pelley, Gordon Hall Gerould, Katharine Holland Brown, Burton Kline, Mary Mitchell Freedley, Katharine Prescott Moseley, and Julian Street. Copyright, 1919, by Small, Maynard & Company, Inc. TO ARTHUR JOHNSON BY WAY OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT Grateful acknowledgment for permission to include the stories and other material in this volume is made to the following authors, editors, publishers, and literary agents: To the Editor of The All-Story Weekly, The Frank A. Munsey Company, Harper and Brothers, The Story-Press Corporation, the Editor of The Bookman, Dodd, Mead & Company, Inc., The Curtis Publishing Company, The Atlantic Monthly Company, Charles Scribner’s Sons, The Pictorial Review Company, The Stratford Journal, The Century Company, P. F. Collier & Son, Inc., Captain Achmed Abdullah, Miss Edwina Stanton Babcock, Mr. Charles Caldwell Dobie, Mr. George Humphrey, Captain Arthur Johnson, Mr. Sinclair Lewis, Mr. Harrison Rhodes, Mrs. Fleta Campbell Springer, Mr. Wilbur Daniel Steele, Mr. Edward C. Venable, Mrs. Mary Heaton O’Brien, Mrs. Frances Gilchrist Wood, Captain Gordon Hall Gerould, Miss Katharine Holland Brown, Mr. Burton Kline, Mrs. Mary Mitchell Freedley, Miss Katharine Prescott Moseley, Mr. Julian Street, and Mr. Paul R. Reynolds (on behalf of Mr. William Dudley Pelley). Acknowledgments are specially due to _The Boston Evening Transcript_ and _The New York Tribune_ for permission to reprint the large body of material previously published in their pages.