SOMERSET MAUGHAM'S TWO FAMOUS SHORT STORIES, The Letter, and The Bum

The Letter
In a steamy colonial outpost in Malaya, Leslie Crosbie, the wife of a British plantation owner, shoots a man dead and claims self-defense. But as her lawyer works to build her case, a mysterious letter emerges-a letter that threatens to expose Leslie’s darkest secrets and upend her carefully crafted story. Maugham deftly unravels the hidden motives, the tangled emotions, and the thin veneer of civility masking raw passions and deadly deceptions.
The Bum
In a twist on fortune and fate, Maugham sketches a haunting portrait of a man who has fallen through society’s cracks. Once prosperous and full of potential, the protagonist encounters a mysterious drifter-the "bum"-who might be just a shadow of his future. The encounter reveals the fleeting nature of success and the razor-thin line between respectability and despair, urging readers to question: what makes one man rise and another fall?