Not one of my favourite O. Henry collections, and I've read them all. Bleaker and less poetic - still, not bad. There are several stories on the theme of - misplaced envy? Misunderstandings about how the other half lives? About, say, a poor guy looking hungry while being full, and a swell guy looking comfortable but secretly starved.

The pinnacle of this is "The Social Triangle", with working-class Ikey Snigglefritz being proud to shake rich Billy McMahan's hand, who is then shown to be proud to shake classy Cortlandt Van Duyckink's hand, who is finally happy upon shaking the hand of - Ikey Snigglefritz.

This reminded me of William Tenn's short story "The Servant Problem", where in a dystopic world, where everything and everyone is controlled by one person and ultimate ruler, except for one person, who secretly rules him, who themselves are secretly beholden to one other person who is totally under control of yet another one, who is enthralled by that very first ruler. "This was the day of complete control" is the story's catchphrase.