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New Arabian Nights Contents

"New Arabian Nights"(1878 - This story includes: (i) "The Suicide Club" [Story of the Young Man with the Cream Tarts, Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk, The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs], and (ii) "The Rajah's Diamond" [Story of the Bandbox, Story of the Young Man in Holy Orders, Story of the House with the Green Blinds, The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a Detective])
"The Pavilion on the Links" (1880)
"A Lodging for the Night: A Story of Francis Villon" (1877)
"The Sire de Maletroit's Door" (1878)
"Providence and the Guitar" (1878)

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Summary

Fettes studies medicine at Edinburgh and works under and lodges with the anatomist Mr K____ (Stevenson was probably referring to the anatomist Robert Knox, who infamously received bodies for dissection murdered by Burke and Hare). Fettes is also in charge of receiving and dividing bodies for class vivisection.

One night, the body of Jane Galbraith, a woman Fettes had seen alive and well only the day before, is brought to the rooms. Fettes suspects foul play and confronts the class assistant Wolfe Macfarlane. Macfarlane confirms it was murder but warns Fettes to say nothing.

After work one night, Fettes meets Macfarlane who is accompanied by an insulting and insinuating man called Gray. Later, Fettes is startled out of sleep by MacFarlane bearing Gray’s murdered body into the dissecting rooms. Fettes is horrified by Macfarlane’s crime, but his uncertainty of what to do keeps him silent. Meanwhile, he gives Gray’s corpse to the medical students for dissection.

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Summary

John Nicholson studies law and lives in Edinburgh with his father, Mr Nicholson, and younger siblings Maria and Alexander.

One day John is sent on business to the bank to deposit £400. On the way, he visits a billiard hall to call on his friend Alan Houston - a friendship John’s father forbids. Alan asks John to pawn his watch and lend him the money. He promises to pay him back later that evening at Collette’s, a disreputable bar. John agrees, but once he’s pawned the watch he finds the bank is closed and he cannot deposit the £400.

Deciding to sort it all out later, he enjoys an evening with the woman he loves, Flora Mackenzie. Later that night, in the Calton Hill area of the city, he is robbed of the £400. Miserable, he goes to Collette’s to meet Alan. Unfortunately, he is arrested for attending an unlicensed establishment.

John goes to his father and ashamedly confesses to the arrest, the stolen money, the pawned watch (his dead mother’s), and his recent fraternizing with Alan.

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The Merry Men and Other Tales and Fables Contents

“The Merry Men” (1882)
“Will o’the Mill” (1878)
“Markheim” (1885)
“Thrawn Janet” (1881)
“Olalla” (1885)
“The Treasure of Franchard” (1883)

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Island Nights' Entertainments Contents

“The Beach of Falesa” (1892)
“The Bottle Imp” (1891)
“The Isle of Voices” (1893)

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Fables Contents
“The Persons of the Tale”
"The Devil and the Innkeeper”
“The Penitent”
“The Yellow Paint”
“The House of Eld”
“The Four Reformers”
“The Man and His Friend”
“The Reader”
“The Citizen and the Traveller”
“The Distinguished Stranger”
“The Cart-horses and the Saddle-horse”
“The Tadpole and the Frog”
“Something in It”
“Faith, Half-faith and No Faith At All”
“The Touchstone”
“The Poor Thing”
“The Song of the Morrow”