Transcriber’s Note: Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Additional notes are at the end of the book. THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1922 THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1922 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” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1918” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1919” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1920” “THE BEST SHORT STORIES OF 1921” “THE GREAT MODERN ENGLISH STORIES,” ETC. [Illustration] BOSTON SMALL, MAYNARD & COMPANY PUBLISHERS Copyright, 1921, by Broom, The Curtis Publishing Company, Brief Stories Publishing Company and The Pagan Publishing Company. Copyright, 1922, by The Boston Transcript Company. Copyright, 1922, by The Dial Publishing Company, Inc., The Pictorial Review Company, The Junior League Bulletin, George H. Doran Company, The Century Company, The Metropolitan Magazine Company, Smart Set Company, Inc., Margaret C. Anderson, The International Magazine Company (Cosmopolitan), and Waldo Frank. Copyright, 1923, by Conrad Aiken, Sherwood Anderson, Konrad Bercovici, Susan M. Boogher, Frederick Booth, Edna Bryner, Rose Gollup Cohen, Charles J. Finger, F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Freedman, Katharine Fullerton Gerould, Ben Hecht, Joseph Hergesheimer, William C. G. Jitro, Ring W. Lardner, James Oppenheim, Benjamin Rosenblatt, Wilbur Daniel Steele, and Clement Wood. Copyright, 1923, by Small, Maynard & Company, Inc. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA PRESS OF THE MURRAY PRINTING COMPANY KENDALL SQUARE, CAMBRIDGE Forest Hill, Oxon, England, October 10, 1922. _My dear Mr. Herford_: I had just finished star-stamping for the year, and I felt a bit exhausted when one of those kind friends every one has, sent me a copy of “Say It with Asterisks,” beautifully bound. Picture my delight when I discovered that a baffling problem which had haunted me for weeks was solved. To whom should I dedicate “The Best Short Stories of 1922”? I could not inscribe it to our Mr. Anderson always, and yet he insisted upon writing the best stories year after year. At last I knew. _Palmam qui meruit ferat._ No curate’s egg this time! The dedication should read: