After Dark

After Dark - Wilkie Collins - After Dark is a collection of six short stories by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1856. It was the author's first collection of short stories. Five of the stories were previously published in Household Words, a magazine edited by Charles Dickens. Contents: "The Traveller's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed", first published as "A Terribly Strange Bed" in Household Words in 1852. "The Lawyer's Story of a Stolen Letter", first published as "The Fourth Poor Traveller" in "The Seven Poor Travellers", a group of stories by several authors in the Christmas 1854 edition of Household Words. "The French Governess's Story of Sister Rose", first published as "Sister Rose" in Household Words in April 1855. "The Angler's Story of the Lady of Glenwith Grange", first published in this volume. "The Nun's Story of Gabriel's Marriage", first published as "Gabriel's Marriage" in Household Words in April 1853. "The Professor's Story of the Yellow Mask", first published as "The Yellow Mask" in Household Words in July 1855. William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 – 23 September 1889) was an English novelist and playwright known especially for The Woman in White (1859), a mystery novel and early "sensation novel", and for The Moonstone (1868), which has been proposed as the first modern English detective novel. Born to the London painter William Collins and his wife, he moved with them to Italy when he was twelve, living there and in France for two years and learning Italian and French. He worked initially as a tea merchant. After Antonina, his first novel, appeared in 1850, Collins met Charles Dickens, who became a friend and mentor. Some of his work appeared in Dickens's journals Household Words and All the Year Round. They also collaborated on drama and fiction. Collins gained financial stability and an international following by the 1860s, but became addicted to the opium he took for his gout, so that his health and writing quality declined in the 1870s and 1880s. Collins criticised the institution of marriage: he split his time between widow Caroline Graves – living with her for most of his life, treating her daughter as his – and the younger Martha Rudd, by whom he had three children. Collins was born at 11 New Cavendish Street, London, London, the son of William Collins, a well-known Royal Academician landscape painter, and his wife, Harriet Geddes. Named after his father, he was soon known by his middle name, which honoured his godfather, David Wilkie. The family moved to Pond Street, Hampstead, in 1826. In 1828 Collins's brother Charles Allston Collins was born. Between 1829 and 1830, the Collins family moved twice, first to Hampstead Square and then to Porchester Terrace, Bayswater. Wilkie and Charles received their early education from their mother at home. The Collins family were deeply religious, and Collins's mother enforced strict church attendance on her sons, which Wilkie disliked.