Robert W Chambers

The Mystery of Choice Robert W Chambers

These classic tales, centering on an American in Breton and a local French girl include stories about the murder of a butterfly collector and the haunting spirit of a renegade priest. An eerie and macabre collection of stories, which include; The Purple Emperor, Pompe Funebre, The Messenger, The White Shadow, Passeur, The Key to Grief, A Matter of Interest, and Envoy. The Purple Emperor watched me in silence. I cast again, spinning out six feet more of waterproof silk, and, as the line hissed through the air far across the pool, I saw my three flies fall on the water like drifting thistledown. The Purple Emperor sneered."You see," he said, "I am right. There is not a trout in Brittany that will rise to a tailed fly.""They do in America," I replied."Zut! for America!" observed the Purple Emperor."And trout take a tailed fly in England," I insisted sharply."Now do I care what things or people do in England?" demanded the Purple Emperor."You don't care for anything except yourself and your wriggling caterpillars," I said, more annoyed than I had yet been.