Cruel Tales

Villiers was much admired by contemporaries such as Yeats and Verlaine. Some of these tales are exotic and mythical while others convey a picture of glittering Paris life. CONTENTS:* The Bienfilâtre sisters* Vera* Vox populi* Two augurs* Celestial publicity* Antonie* The glory machine* The Duke of Portland* Virginia and Paul* The eleventh-hour guest* The very image* The impatient mob* The secret of the old music* Sentimentality* The finest dinner in the world* The desire to be a man* Flowers of darkness* The apparatus for the chemical analysis of the last breath* The brigands* Queen Ysabeau* Sombre tale, sombre teller* The sign* The unknown woman* Maryelle* Doctor Tristan's treatment* Occult memories* The messenger