Written in 1912 these late Victorian or Edwardian tales feature members of the English upper class engaged in crime solving, espionage good deeds and mysteries. Some of these stories Oppenheim went on to develop into full novels. Others are short masterworks of plotting, character, and description. Unlike many of his short stories, the endings on a couple of these are more poignant or sad than usual.
Lenore, the story of a gentleman rescuing an impoverished young girl and her blind sister is a good example. The carefully observed details of dress and conduct are characteristic of the gentile and inhibited mores of the time. Oppenheim describes the characters changing emotional states with remarkable succintness. As the influence and emotions wax and wane in a few pages we can see many of the codes of conduct of the Edwardian upper class. The clever twist at the end is similar to O'Henry, Saki, and DeMaupassant.
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