This indispensable volume, which includes the classic stories "Silent Snow, Secret Snow" and "Mr. Arcularis," is a testament to the dazzling artistry of one of the twentieth century's most influential writers A young woman passes through the countryside to visit her dying grandmother for a final time. A cabbie, exhausted from a long day's work, fights to get an intoxicated woman out of his taxi. A man on his way to a bachelor party tries to come to grips with the brutishness that lies within every gentleman—and finds that Bacardi cocktails do nothing to help. A master craftsman whose poetry and prose offer profound insight into the riddle of consciousness, Conrad Aiken thrills, disturbs, and inspires in all forty-one of these astute and eloquent tales.

This tale of an exotic adventure undertaken in the face of tragedy includes a revealing portrait of Conrad Aiken's friend and protégé Malcolm Lowry Blomberg has loved Noni for what seems like his whole life. He loves her like he loves the sunset, like he loves the air he breathes. But beautiful, strange, impulsive Noni—who has spent years in a passionless marriage to one of Boston's most notorious swindlers—has only a few months to live; her heart is about to give out. Before she dies, Noni begs Blom to finance a trip to Mexico, where she can obtain a quick divorce and marry the man she loves. That man is not Blom, however, but Gil—an upstanding young gentleman who is to know nothing of Noni's condition. With his own heart aching, Blom arranges the money, and the trio heads south on a journey that will bring them face to face with the mysteries of life and death.