The second, concluding part of Nikolai Gogol’s “The Overcoat.”

An intriguing story that admits of various interpretations, the Ukrainian author Nikolai Gogol’s 1842 story “The Overcoat” influenced generations of writers.

St. Patrick’s Day is at hand, and so a couple of Irish fairy tales, collected by W. B. Yeats.

In A. J. Raffles, the amateur cracksman, E. W. Hornung created one of the mythic figures of modern crime fiction. Here is “A Trap to Catch a Cracksman.”

“The Last Class,” Alphonse Daudet’s elegiac story of the lives of ordinary people changing against the background of war with a foreign power.

Dorothy Canfield Fisher’s wise, compassionate, beautifully observed story of an overlooked member of a family: “The Bedquilt.”

‘What will Father say?’ I questioned.

‘Lots o’ things,’ conceded Aunt Philippa grimly. ‘But I don't see as it matters when neither you nor me’ll be there to have our feelings hurt.’

Sometimes speaking tartly but with no nonsense, Aunt Philippa is one of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s truly memorable creations. She never asks for our affections, but we are pleased to give them by the end.

P. G. Wodehouse’s beloved, exasperating character Ukridge. Always low on cash, never seeking an ordinary job that would involve actual work. Always on the lookout for a get-rich-quick scheme. Those fight manager fellows make a lot of money. If you knew the right fighter, you too could make a lot of money. It must be easy, right? “The Début of Battling Billson.”

Twice-divorced Alice Waythorn is seen through the eyes of her third husband, who is haunted, so to speak, by the unexpected appearances of his wife’s former spouses. An amused Edith Wharton offers an engaging portrait of a charming and fascinating woman.

The life of the rogue poet François Villon (1431-1463?) inspired this short story. Robert Louis Stevenson tells of adventures on a bleak and snowy night in Paris and goes on, in a witty but earnest dialogue, to talk of honor, social status, and the human instinct to survive.