pretty good stories with 2 novelettes. the bridge of san luis rey--thornton wilder and national velvet by enid bagnold ( )

Volume II
The Bridge of San Luis Rey (complete novel) – Thornton Wilder, 1928. A suspension bridge in the Peruvian Andes gives way, sending a group of travellers to their demise. Who were they, and what chances of fate led them to their rendezvous with death at San Luis Rey? Excellent story.
Basquerie - Eleanor Mercein Kelly, 1927. A lovely, not-so-young American girl in Europe must decide between love and (possibly?) a more financially wise match. This author is worth further investigation.
Judith – A.E. Coppard, 1927. Aristocratic Judith meets and dallies with a handsome young schoolmaster, to his eventual tragic downfall.
A Mother in Mannville - Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, 1936. Touchingly poignant short story about an orphan boy and his integrity and pride.
Kerfol - Edith Wharton, 1916. The tragic tale of a jealous French nobleman and his faithless wife. Supernatural elements – something of a ghost story.
The Last Leaf – O. Henry, 1905. Platonic love among a group of artists. Touching nd memorable.
The Bloodhound - Arthur Train, 1923. Shrewd New York lawyer Mr. Tutt defends a client. Badly dated, one of the less memorable stories in this collection.
What the Old Man Does is Always Right – Hans Christian Andersen, 1861. Clever Danish peasants get the better of a condescending Englishman.
The Sea of Grass (complete novel) – Conrad Richter, 1936. Feuding between cattlemen and incoming small farmers in New Mexico at the turn of the century. Told from the point of view of the nephew of one of the most outspoken cattlemen, and with a crucial role played by Lutie Cameron, newly arrived from St. Louis to marry into the cattle-baron hierarchy.
The Sire de Malétroit’s Door - Robert Louis Stevenson, 1877. In cavalier France of 1429, a case of mistaken identity and the equivalent of a shotgun wedding. Vintage Stevenson.
The Necklace – Guy de Maupassant, 1884. Vanity and social ambition lead to a young French couple’s downfall. An ironic small masterpiece of a story.
By the Waters of Babylon – Stephen Vincent Benet, 1937. Post-apocalyptic America seen through the eyes of a young man on a quest. A “rebirth of civilization” theme; definitely a precursor to the many similar stories which are hitting high popularity today.
A.V. Laider - Max Beerbohm, 1920. A palm-reader forsees the death of four friends, but chooses not to warn them. Or at least that’s his story… Nicely done!
The Pillar of Fire – Percival Wilde, 1925. A clever method of cheating at cards is discovered and nipped in the bud. A bit rambling.
The Strange Will (excerpt from The Man With the Broken Ear) - Edmond About, 1862. The rather macabre tale of bringing a mummified murdered man back to life.
The Hand at the Window (excerpt from Wuthering Heights)- Emily Brontë, 1847. A short, decidedly gothic episode from the novel.
“National Velvet” (complete novel) – Enid Bagnold, 1935. 14-year-old Velvet Brown wins a horse in a raffle and decides to race him in the Grand National steeplechase. Beautifully written portrait of family life; the horses play second string to the human relationships. Excellent. ( )