This is a collection of ten short stories including A Cock Crowed, Christmas Eve, Fly, Lieutenant Lare's Marriage, Paul's Mistress, The Door, The False Gems, The Mask, The Rabbit and The Wolf. Monsieur Lantin, a man who only makes three thousand five hundred francs a year, marries a young girl who seems to be a very virtuous woman, one that "governs his household with such clever economy that they seem to live in luxury." However, good times do not last long. After his wife dies of inflammation, Monsieur Lantin finds it difficult for him to afford the ordinary comforts of life. He is soon reduced to absolute poverty. One morning, he decides to sell one of his wife's jewels. Lantin goes to a reliable jewelry shop but comes back with astonishment and confusion. What has happened? The False Gems will tell you a carefully crafted story.

郎坦先生是一个小科员，娶了一位温良贤淑，娴静端庄的年轻姑娘。郎坦先生除了对妻子爱看戏和爱假珠宝不满意之外，觉得和她在一起无比幸福。她如此勤俭持家，精打细算，以至于他们似乎过得很奢华。直到有一天，妻子得病去世，生活似乎一下子艰难了起来，郎坦先生决定变卖妻子的一条看似精致的项链。他走进一家珠宝店，然而珠宝商的话却让他如遭雷击......第二天，他携带妻子的所有饰品来到同一家店中，再一次走出珠宝店时，郎坦先生已经从落魄穷人变成了拥有十四万三千法郎的富豪。珠宝商告诉他什么惊人秘密？郎坦先生是如何一夜暴富的？《假珠宝》将为您揭开一切疑惑。