After Dark

by Wilkie Collins

"After Dark" by Wilkie Collins is a collection of six short stories first published in 1856. The tales are united by a framing narrative: a portrait-painter forbidden from working must rely on his wife to transcribe his stories for publication to avoid destitution. Each story—featuring terribly strange beds, stolen letters, and mysterious masks—comes from a different narrator, creating a tapestry of suspenseful tales originally published in Charles Dickens's magazine Household Words.