Perceval Gibbon (1879-1926) was an author and journalist working on the Rand Daily Mail in South Africa and several other publications. He is best remembered for his masterly short stories, which were often characterized by an ironic twist at the end.

The Victim tells the tale of César Savinien, a French poet who finds himself enjoying a terrifying streak of good fortune. Everything he does turns out brilliantly...but he believes that luck is like a pendulum and that the further it swings in one direction, the further in the opposite direction it will swing when his luck turns....

This is the tale of Savinien's good fortune...and what happens when the pendulum suddenly swings the other way.