THE BLIND MAN The narrator, in the process of enjoying the atmosphere of a new spring, thinks of how much blind people miss out on such sensations, and remembers the terrible story of a blind boy in the Norman countryside who was treated worse than a dog by one and all, especially his own family.
MAGNETISM An after-dinner discussion on the theme of occultism leads the most cynical anti-occultist of the group to recount two seemingly strange incidents that he considers to be more or less explainable in scientific terms, although the second story, about the amazing way he met his mistress, leaves the audience quite unconvinced about its scientific background.
DREAMS A group of friends are discussing how to escape from the essential boredom of their lives and one of them, a doctor, describes in detail the beneficial effects of breathing ether and how superior that experience is to the better-known drugs like hashish and opium. A WIDOW An elderly lady reveals the story of the quite maniacal and finally tragic passion that a young boy, heavily influenced by the legends of his extraordinary ancestors, had had for her in her young days.
So the doctor tells her about a patient who had called him urgently late one evening to save her because her lover had died while visiting her and her husband would soon be coming back home. Marambot that he will shortly be receiving a tidy sum of money β money that Denis mentions he could use himself to launch into business on his own. When another letter arrives with what seems to be the money in question, Denis becomes fed up with M.
The boy cannot understand why they insist on wasting food on the old thing and not only starts to neglect feeding it but to seriously mistreat it, and an unpleasant end is in store for Coco.
