A Fair Penitent and Other Stories is collection of stories by Wilkie Collins. The title tale is a love story about a handsome actress, Mademoiselle Gautie, and Francois, another actor. She falls in love with him instantly, but as soon as she tests his sincerity, he cools towards her. This collection also includes The Traveller's Story of a Terribly Strange Bed and Mr. Lismore and Widow. A popular and influential English novelist, dramatist, and short story writer, Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) was the son of a famous landscape painter, William Collins. Renowned for his sensational mysteries and romances, he is hailed as the inventor of the detective novel. Collins was a lawyer by training. Among his most famous works are The Woman in White (1860) , and The Moonstone (1867) , and No Name (1862) .
