THE LOCK AND KEY LIBRARY THE MOST INTERESTING STORIES OF ALL NATIONS Edited by Julian Hawthorne AMERICAN Table of Contents INTRODUCTION BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE “Riddle Stories” F. MARION CRAWFORD (1854–) By the Waters of Paradise MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN (1862–) The Shadows on the Wall MELVILLE D. POST (1871–) The Corpus Delicti AMBROSE BIERCE (1842–) An Heiress from Redhorse The Man and the Snake EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809–49) The Oblong Box The Gold-Bug WASHINGTON IRVING (1783–1859) Wolfert Webber, or Golden Dreams Adventure of the Black Fisherman CHARLES BROCKDEN BROWN (1771–1810) Wieland’s Madness FITZJAMES O’BRIEN (1828–1862) The Golden Ingot My Wife’s Tempter NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (1804–1864) The Minister’s Black Veil ANONYMOUS Horror: A True Tale “Riddle Stories” Introduction by Julian Hawthorne When Poe wrote his immortal Dupin tales, the name “Detective” stories had not been invented; the detective of fiction not having been as yet discovered. And the title is still something of a misnomer, for many narratives involving a puzzle of some sort, though belonging to the category which I wish to discuss, are handled by the writer without expert detective aid. Sometimes the puzzle solves itself through operation of circumstance; sometimes somebody who professes no special detective skill happens upon the secret of its mystery; once in a while some venturesome genius has the courage to leave his enigma unexplained. But ever since Gaboriau created his Lecoq, the transcendent detective has been in favor; and Conan Doyle’s famous gentleman analyst has given him a fresh lease of life, and reanimated the stage by reverting to the method of Poe. Sherlock Holmes is Dupin redivivus, and mutatus mutandis; personally he is a more stirring and engaging companion, but so far as kinship to probabilities or even possibilities is concerned, perhaps the older version of him is the more presentable. But in this age of marvels we seem less difficult to suit in this respect than our forefathers were.