_Bret Harte_

THE DUPLICITY OF HARGRAVES (1902)
_O. Henry_

BARGAIN DAY AT TUTT HOUSE (1905)
_George Randolph Chester_

A CALL (1906)
_Grace MacGowan Cooke_

HOW THE WIDOW WON THE DEACON (1911)
_William James Lampton_

GIDEON (1914)
_Wells Hastings_



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

_The Nice People_, by Henry Cuyler Bunner, is republished from his
volume, _Short Sixes_, by permission of its publishers, Charles
Scribner's Sons. _The Buller-Podington Compact_, by Frank Richard
Stockton, is from his volume, _Afield and Afloat_, and is republished
by permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. _Colonel Starbottle for the
Plaintiff_, by Bret Harte, is from the collection of his stories
entitled _Openings in the Old Trail_, and is republished by permission
of the Houghton Mifflin Company, the authorized publishers of Bret
Harte's complete works. _The Duplicity of Hargraves_, by O. Henry, is