'Twixt Land and Sea

’Twixt Land and Sea is a collection of Joseph Conrad’s three short stories—“A Smile of Fortune,” “The Secret Sharer,” and “Freya of the Seven Isles”—published together in a single volume as Conrad meant them to be.

In “A Smile of Fortune,” a ship’s captain meets the seemingly genial Mr. Jacobus and his irritable brother while embarking in the tropics. One a respectable businessman with a considerab...