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.

Classic Conan Doyle, classic Sherlock Holmes: a neatly constructed adventure of the most famous of detectives and his friend and chronicler Dr. John H. Watson: Silver Blaze, from The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.

A touching story of plainspoken folk, sensitively narrated by the surprisingly versatile Bram Stoker.

Jack London takes Manhattan as he tells the story of a young woman from the Midwest determined to break into journalism in New York.

On Boxing Day, also called St. Stephan’s Day, two seasonal stories, one based on a medieval legend, the other based on imagined good old days.

Two masters, two stories. One by O. Henry, one by Chekhov. One comic, one melancholy. Both with a kind sympathy for the outsider in the story.

The first yuletide story of the season. Over many stories in the Father Brown saga by G. K. Chesterton, the priestly sleuth pursues the elusive master criminal Flambeau. An important turning point in their lives comes at Christmas.

Kathleen Norris’s engaging story about success and the incidental expenses. Also, in this November month, when we give thanks for abundance, a poem by Dick Ferrell about the poignant and not-so-plain beauty of this month.

Stories for a season of thanks: O. Henry’s “Two Thanksgiving Gentlemen” and selections from Jonathan Sams’ Reflections of a Fishing Parson.