Short stories usually have the potency to magically transport the readers to any situation or location for a period of time. The core ideas around which these stories are woven seep through various layers of the stories and exude beautiful thoughts and cultural aspects of the setting.     Guy de Maupassant has a flawless finesse with his words and story-telling that creates a Victorian virtual ambience for the readers. Every story in this book contains a powerful message, cocooned by subdued dialogues, scripts, and contexts. I also happened to read "The Tale of Two Cities" accidentally which turned out to be a one-of-a-kind page-turner that beautifully illustrated forgiveness, loyalty, and sacrifice.           Those days of revolution and rebellion took an artistic form of representation through literature. Exceptional ideas that were instrumental in sculpting the modern society that we live in, were propagated through such f...