A SET OF SIX

By Joseph Conrad



_Les petites marionnettes
Font, font, font,
Trois petits tours
Et puis s'en vont_.
--NURSERY RHYME




TO MISS M. H. M. CAPES




AUTHOR'S NOTE


THE six stories in this volume are the result of some three or four
years of occasional work. The dates of their writing are far apart,
their origins are various. None of them are connected directly with
personal experiences. In all of them the facts are inherently true, by
which I mean that they are not only possible but that they have actually
happened. For instance, the last story in the volume, the one I call
Pathetic, whose first title is Il Conde (misspelt by-the-by) is an