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The Works of Guy de Maupassant Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the The Works of Guy de Maupassant novel. A total of 348 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : The Works of Guy de Maupa.s.sant.Vol. 1.by Guy de Maupa.s.sant.INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR SY
The Works of Guy de Maupa.s.sant.Vol. 1.by Guy de Maupa.s.sant.INTRODUCTION BY ARTHUR SYMONS The first aim of art, no doubt, is the representation of things as they are. But then things are as our eyes see them and as our minds make them; and it is thus o
- 201 When the post-chaise drew up before the door with the baron's smiling face looking out of the window, Jeanne felt fonder of her parents and more pleased to see them than she had ever been before; but when she saw her mother she was overcome with surprise
- 202 "You would feel much better if you would eat something," he went on again."Let someone go for papa, directly," she said as if she had not heard what he said; and he went out of the room to dispatch a mounted messenger to Rouen.Jeanne sank into a sort
- 203 Then Paul fell ill, and Jeanne pa.s.sed twelve days in an agony of fear, unable to sleep and scarcely touching food. The boy got well, but there remained the thought that he might die. What should she do if he did?What would become of her? Gradually there
- 204 In spite of her determination to tell him all, Jeanne hardly knew how to explain herself."He--he refuses--to make me a mother."The priest understood at once; it was not the first time he had heard of such things, but he asked for all the details, and en
- 205 Jeanne only bent her head in feeble resignation."What do you intend to do?" asked the priest."What do you wish me to do, Monsieur l'abbe?" she murmured."Throw yourself in the way as an obstacle to this guilty love," he answered, violently.She began
- 206 Directly it had dashed upon the rocks at the bottom of the valley, the old beggar, who had seen it falling, began to make his way down through the brambles. He did not go straight to the shattered hut, but, like the cautious rustic that he was, went to an
- 207 Jeanne felt that she was being attacked, and replied: "But cannot one believe in G.o.d without constantly attending church?""No, madame. Believers go to pray to G.o.d in his church, as they would go to visit their friends at their houses.""G.o.d is e
- 208 Jeanne read it over twice, looked at the Jew, read it over again, then asked: "What does it mean?""I vill tell you," replied the man obsequiously. "Your son wanted a leetle money, and, as I know what a goot mother you are, I lent him joost a leetle t
- 209 "My poor mistress! Mam'zelle Jeanne, my poor mistress! Don't you know me?" she sobbed."Rosalie, my la.s.s!" cried Jeanne, throwing her arms round the woman's neck and kissing her; and, clasped in each other's arms they mingled their tears and sobs
- 210 "But if he has not anything to eat?" murmured Jeanne, who was quietly weeping."He can come to us if he's hungry; there'll always be victuals and a bed for him. He'd never have got into trouble if you hadn't given him any money the first time he ask
- 211 It was impossible for Jeanne to sleep, for the whole night she could hear the old dog moaning and scratching as he tried to get used to this new house which he found so different from his old home. Nothing would quiet him; his eyes were dim and it seemed
- 212 She felt stunned, and it was some time before she could speak again."When did he leave?" she asked at last, controlling herself by a violent effort.The man was quite ready to tell her all he knew."About a fortnight ago," he replied. "They just walked
- 213 "Make haste and drink up your coffee," she said as she placed the cup on the table. "Denis is waiting to take us to Les Peuples. I have to go over there on business."Jeanne was so excited that she thought she would have fainted, and, as she dressed he
- 214 Hautot Senior answered: "As much as you like, especially in the Puysatier lands.""Which direction are we to begin at?" asked the notary, a jolly notary fat and pale, big paunched too, and strapped up in an entirely new hunting-costume bought at Rouen.
- 215 "Yes, father.""I tell you that she is an honest girl, and that, but for you, and the remembrance of your mother, and again but for the house in which we three lived, I would have brought her here, and then married her, for certain--listen--listen, my l
- 216 He no longer ventured to speak, keeping his eyes fixed on the table which stood in the center of the room, with three covers laid on it, one of which was for a child. He glanced at the chair which had its back turned to the fire. They had been expecting h
- 217 As he was rising up to go, he asked: "When would you like me to come back to speak about this business to you, Mam'zelle Donet?""If it is all the same to you, say next Thursday, Monsieur Cesar. In that way, I would lose none of my time, as I always ha
- 218 Then, he raised himself with the intention of hastening towards the Mayor's residence, but again another thought held him back. If the little girl was still alive, by any chance, he could not leave her lying there in this way. He sank on his knees very g
- 219 "What a wretch! We must find the clothes."The doctor felt the hands, the arms, the legs. He said: "She must have been bathing, no doubt. They ought to be at the water's edge."The Mayor thereupon gave directions: "Do you, Princepe" (this was his sec
- 220 The gendarmes appeared in the distance, coming on at a rapid trot, escorting their captain and a little gentleman with red whiskers, who was bobbing up and down like a monkey on a big white mare.The steward had just found M. Putoin, the examining magistra
- 221 Then the magistrates returned to Roug, announcing that they would return next day at an early hour. The doctor and the cure went to their respective homes, while Renardet, after a long walk through the meadows, returned to the wood where he remained walki
- 222 He made this explanation in a slow tone, searching for his words, and speaking in a stupefied fas.h.i.+on.Then, he went off, saying: "Till to-morrow, my friends--till to-morrow."As soon as he had got back to his room, he sat down before his table, which
- 223 "'Tis I."But he restrained himself. He went back, however, during the night, to fish up the dead girl's wooden shoes, in order to carry them to her mother's threshold.As long as the inquiry lasted, as long as it was necessary to guide and aid justice
- 224 He omitted nothing, not a single detail of the crime, not a single detail of the torments of his heart, and he ended by announcing that he had pa.s.sed sentence on himself, that he was going to execute the criminal, and begging of his friend, his old frie
- 225 The postman still went on without giving any answer.Renardet went on: "I'll make your fortune, you understand--whatever you wish--fifty thousand francs--fifty thousand francs for that letter! What does it matter to you? You won't? Well, a hundred thous
- 226 "One morning she was found in bed, lifeless, and already quite cold, with a cotton mask over her face."Her coffin was covered with flowers, the church was hung in white.There was a large crowd at the funeral ceremony."Ah! well, if I had known--but you
- 227 "Can you really be a coward? Can you be one of those who seduce a woman, and then throw her over, through sheer caprice?"He became pale, and renewed his arguments; he pointed out to her the inevitable consequences of such an action to both of them as lo
- 228 "Look here, Delphine! Think of your daughters!"Then she turned on both of them a glance of sovereign contempt, and, after that, flying with a bound towards the staircase, she flung at them these scornful words: "You are a pair of wretches!"Left alone,
- 229 The peasant cast an uneasy glance towards his family, who remained in a listening att.i.tude behind him. He hesitated for another second or so, then all of a sudden, he came to a resolution on the matter."I came home one night about ten o'clock and the
- 230 The men of to-day have so little consideration for others and so little good manners that one must be always severe with them. We live indeed in an age of vulgarity. When they quarrel with one another, they attack one another with insults worthy of street
- 231 "For three months I saw her every morning without growing tired of her for a second, so well was she able incessantly to give variety and piquancy to her physical attractiveness. But one day I saw that her eyes were bloodshot and glowing with suppressed
- 232 "No, I have never been in Italy. "My brother, quite stunned, went on: "The Comte has requested me to give you this money, and tell you that it is all broken off. "She became serious again, calmly putting the money into her pocket, and, in an ingenuous
- 233 The Works of Guy de Maupa.s.sant.Vol. 6.by Guy de Maupa.s.sant.BEL AMI (A LADIES' MAN) I When the cas.h.i.+er had given him the change out of his five francpiece, George Duroy left the restaurant.As he had a good carriage, both naturally and from his mil
- 234 When he approached the check-takers they bowed, and one of them held out his hand. The journalist asked: "Have you a good box?""Certainly, Monsieur Forestier."He took the ticket held out to him, pushed the padded door with its leather borders, and the
- 235 He stammered "By Jove!" without being able to say anything else.The three stood together, checking the movement, the current of which swept round them.All at once she asked: "Will you come home with me?"And he, quivering with desire, answered roughly:
- 236 Faces grew red, and voices rose, as from time to time the man-servant murmured in the guests' ears: "Corton or Chateau-Laroze."Duroy had found the Corton to his liking, and let his gla.s.s be filled every time. A delicious liveliness stole over him, a
- 237 But suddenly, without any reason, Madame de Marelle called, "Laurine!"and the little girl came."Sit down here, child; you will catch cold near the window."Duroy was seized with a wild longing to kiss the child. It was as though some part of the kiss w
- 238 "I shall feel in a better mood for it to-morrow. My thoughts are not clear to-night. Perhaps, too, I have had just a little too much to drink. One can't work well under those circ.u.mstances."He got into bed, blew out his light, and went off to sleep a
- 239 But as he did not know where to commence, she began to question him as a priest would have done in the confessional, putting precise questions which recalled to him forgotten details, people encountered and faces merely caught sight of.When she had made h
- 240 He was at once ushered along a lengthy pa.s.sage, which brought him to a large room where four gentlemen were writing at a large green-covered table.Forestier standing before the fireplace was smoking a cigarette and playing at cup and ball. He was very c
- 241 His office was a large, gloomy room, in which gas had to be kept burning almost all day long in winter. It looked into a narrow court-yard, with other offices on the further side of it. There were eight clerks there, besides a sub-chief hidden behind a sc
- 242 The other replied, simply enough: "No, my name is Thomas. It is in the office that they have nicknamed me Saint-Potin."Duroy, as he paid for the drinks, observed: "But it seems to me that time is getting on, and that we have two n.o.ble foreigners to c
- 243 "It means that you pleased me, you old dear, and that we will begin again whenever you please.""To-day, if you like.""Yes, I am quite willing.""Good, but--" He hesitated, a little ashamed of what he was going to do."The fact is that this time I h
- 244 The clock struck three, and the journalist arose."Come often," said Madame de Marelle, "and we will chat as we have done to-day; it will always give me pleasure. But how is it one no longer sees you at the Forestiers?" He replied: "Oh! for no reason.
- 245 The two ladies were now going it strongly in their remarks. Madame de Marelle, with a native audacity which resembled a direct provocation, and Madame Forestier with a charming reserve, a modesty in her tone, voice, smile, and bearing that underlined whil
- 246 a lot of j.a.panese trifles on the walls, and he bought for five francs quite a collection of little fans and screens, with which he hid the most obvious of the marks on the wall paper. He pasted on the window panes transparent pictures representing boats
- 247 The entrance of Clotilde created a sensation, due to the elegance of her toilet. The couples ceased whispering together, the three cab-drivers left off arguing, and the man who was smoking, having taken his pipe from his mouth and spat in front of him, tu
- 248 What is it?"He blushed not knowing what to say, and she went on in an indignant tone: "You see very well that you are lying, you low brute." And with an angry gesture and tears in her eyes, she escaped him.He again caught her by the shoulders, and, in
- 249 The cab slowly moved off, jolting over the paving stones. Clotilde, seized by a kind of hysterical attack, sat choking and gasping with her hands covering her face, and Duroy neither knew what to do nor what to say. At last, as he heard her sobbing, he st
- 250 "Quite.""Well, go and see Madame Walter, who greatly appreciates you, and do your best to please her. You will find a place there for your compliments, although she is virtuous, you understand me, perfectly virtuous. Oh! there is no hope of
- 251 The examination of the walls was over. The governor went to put down his lamp and welcome the last comer, while Duroy began to re-examine the pictures as if he could not tire of admiring them. He was quite upset.What should he do? Madame Forestier called
- 252 But having paused to allow a perfumed lady, alighting from her carriage and entering her house, to pa.s.s before him, he drew in with eager breath the scent of vervain and orris root floating in the air. His lungs and heart throbbed suddenly with hope and
- 253 It was a huge house, in which they had to go up six flights of stairs.An old woman in a woolen jacket opened the door to them. "What is it you want with me now?" said she, on catching sight of Saint-Potin.He replied: "I have brought this ge
- 254 The thought occurred to him to make a fire. He built it up slowly, without looking around. His hands shook slightly with a kind of nervous tremor when he touched anything. His head wandered, his disjointed, drifting thoughts became fleeting and painful, a
- 255 "Oh, my darling! if you only knew what I felt when I saw the papers this morning. Oh, tell me all about it! I want to know everything."He had to give minute details. She said: "What a dreadful night you must have pa.s.sed before the duel.&q
- 256 "Not at all well, sir. He cannot last much longer."The drawing-room, into which George was shown, was hung with pink and blue chintz. The tall and wide windows overlooked the town and the sea.Duroy muttered: "By Jove, this is nice and swell
- 257 He persisted, repeating, "Oh, I am much better. I feel it."They pa.s.sed at first along some of those shady roads, bordered by gardens, which cause Cannes to resemble a kind of English Park, and then reached the highway to Antibes, running along
- 258 What luck the dead man had had to meet such an intelligent and charming companion! How had they become acquainted? How ever had she agreed on her part to marry that poor and commonplace young fellow? How had she succeeded in making someone of him? Then he
- 259 She suddenly became serious again, and placing her hand on his arm, murmured: "Do not let us speak of that yet a while."But he divined that she accepted, and falling at her knees began to pa.s.sionately kiss her hands, repeating: "Thanks, t
- 260 He had lowered his eyes, and was preparing the beginning of his speech.He commenced in a low tone of voice: "My dear one, you see me very uneasy, very sad, and very much embarra.s.sed at what I have to admit to you. I love you dearly. I really love y
- 261 Duroy no longer listened, wholly absorbed by other thoughts. She stopped from time to time to follow out some inward train of ideas, and then went on: "In three or four years you can be easily earning thirty to forty thousand francs a year. That is w
- 262 The old woman recovered herself first, and stammered, without advancing a step: "Is't thou, boy?"The young fellow answered: "Yes, it is I, mother," and stepping up to her, kissed her on both cheeks with a son's hearty smack.
- 263 "There," he said, "I had warned you. I ought not to have introduced you to Monsieur and Madame du Roy de Cantel, Senior."She began to laugh, too, and replied: "I am delighted now. They are good folk, whom I am beginning to like ve
- 264 Du Roy would not answer, but he was inwardly furious, and a sullen wrath sprang up in him against the dead man. Daddy Walter himself had declared, when astonishment was expressed at the flagrant similarity in style and inspiration between the leaders of t
- 265 He sat still, his arms crossed, his eyes turned skyward, his mind too agitated to think as yet. He only felt within him the rancor fermenting and the anger swelling which lurk at the heart of all mankind in presence of the caprices of feminine desire. He
- 266 He promised himself, though, to keep a more careful watch in the future over Madame Walter's bearing towards him, without asking whether he might ever derive any advantage from this. All the evening he was haunted by the recollection of his love pa.s
- 267 The a.s.sault-at-arms was given under the patronage of the wives of all the senators and deputies connected with the _Vie Francaise_, for the benefit of the orphans of the Sixth Arrondiss.e.m.e.nt of Paris. Madame Walter had promised to come with her daug
- 268 She was shocked, and murmured: "Oh, George!"He wore an insolent and chaffing air as he said: "Well, what? Did you not admit to me the other evening that Forestier was a cuckold?" And he added: "Poor devil!" in a tone of pity.
- 269 Madame Du Roy answered slowly: "Not over much."The guests were taking their leave. Madame Laroche-Mathieu looked like a housemaid from the country. She was the daughter of a notary, and had been married to the deputy when he was only a barrister
- 270 Du Roy replied: "Really, I am not quite certain. I think within the last twenty or five-and-twenty years. It is, besides, the first time I ever was inside it.""It is the same with me. I have never seen it."The journalist, whose interes
- 271 "Where are we?" she asked."Get out and come into this house," he replied. "We shall be more at ease there.""But where are we?""At my rooms," and here we will leave them to their _tete-a-tete_.XIII Autumn h
- 272 George stimulated her imagination, excited it to irony and they understood one another marvelously. She kept appealing to him every moment, "I say, Pretty-boy. Come here, Pretty-boy."He would at once leave the mother and go to the daughter, who
- 273 She looked at him disconsolately, saying, "Oh, George, can't I even kiss you?"He replied, "No, not to-day. I have a headache, and it upsets me."She sat down again docilely between his knees, and asked, "Will you come and dine
- 274 His wife had not come home, and he went to bed and fell asleep.Madeleine came in towards midnight. George, suddenly roused, sat up in bed. "Well?" he asked.He had never seen her so pale and so deeply moved. She murmured: "He is dead."&
- 275 George bowed, saying: "Yes, sir."Then he bowed again ceremoniously, ushered out his wife, who had remained silent, and went out himself with so stiff an air that the notary no longer smiled.As soon as they got home, Du Roy abruptly closed the do
- 276 And the journalist, after giving his address, added: "You will have the monogram, G. R. C., engraved on the chronometer under a baron's coronet."Madeleine, surprised, began to smile, and when they went out, took his arm with a certain affec
- 277 "Yes. A million between us. Forty thousand francs' income. We cannot even keep a carriage on it."They had reached the last of the reception-rooms, and before them lay the conservatory--a huge winter garden full of tall, tropical trees, shel
- 278 He wanted to refuse, observing: "No, I will not take that money."Then she grew indignant. "Ah! so you won't take it now. It is yours, yours, only. If you do not take it, I will throw it into the gutter. You won't act like that, Ge
- 279 When they arrived Madame Walter was alone in the little Louis XVI.boudoir she had adopted for the reception of personal friends. Dressed in black, she had powdered her hair, which rendered her charming. She had the air at a distance of an old woman, and c
- 280 He rose, and stammered: "Thanks, thanks; do not say 'yes' to anyone yet, I beg of you; wait a little longer, I entreat you. Will you promise me this much?"She murmured, somewhat uneasily, and without understanding what he wanted: "
- 281 The other was silent. He held the sheet close up to his neck, and rolled his startled eyes. His little, curled-up moustache showed up black upon his blanched face.The commissary continued: "You will not answer, eh? Then I shall be forced to arrest yo
- 282 Monsieur Walter could not get over it, and watched Du Roy with startling eyes, thinking: "Hang it, here is a fellow to be looked after."George went on: "I am now free. I have some money. I shall offer myself as a candidate at the October el
- 283 "Oh! no.""Your father was very angry when you said no?""I should think so. He wanted to send me back to the convent.""You see that it is necessary to be energetic.""I will be so."She looked at the vast hor
- 284 He replied, sadly: "It is no use howling. He has run away with her, he has dishonored her. The best thing is to give her to him. By setting to work in the right way no one will be aware of this escapade."She repeated, shaken by terrible emotion:
- 285 He rushed at her, and, holding her down, struck her as though striking a man. She left off shouting, and began to moan beneath his blows. She no longer stirred, but hid her face against the bottom of the wall and uttered plaintive cries. He left off beati
- 286 The Works of Guy de Maupa.s.sant.Volume VIII.by Guy de Maupa.s.sant.OF "THE NOVEL"I do not intend in these pages to put in a plea for this little novel.On the contrary, the ideas I shall try to set forth will rather involve a criticism of the cl
- 287 But her husband shook his head in denial, though at the same time he glanced complacently at the basket where the fish caught by the three men were still breathing spasmodically, with a low rustle of clammy scales and struggling fins, and dull, ineffectua
- 288 She said as she returned the gla.s.s: "I never could see with that thing. It used to put my husband in quite a rage; he would stand for hours at the window watching the s.h.i.+ps pa.s.s."Old Roland, much put out, retorted: "Then it must be
- 289 "A gentleman from the lawyer's.""What lawyer?""Why M'sieu' Canu--who else?""And what did this gentleman say?""That M'sieu' Canu will call in himself in the course of the evening."M
- 290 "Did you, in Paris, know a certain M. Marechal--Leon Marechal?"M. and Mme. Roland both exclaimed at once: "I should think so!""He was a friend of yours?"Roland replied: "Our best friend, monsieur, but a fanatic for Paris
- 291 No one could talk; they had too much to think about and nothing to say. Mme. Roland alone attempted a few commonplace remarks. She gave an account of the fis.h.i.+ng excursion, and sang the praises of the _Pearl_ and of Mme. Rosemilly."Charming! char
- 292 Out on the deep water, the limitless water, darker than the sky, stars seemed to have fallen here and there. They twinkled in the night haze, small, close to sh.o.r.e or far away--white, red, and green, too. Most of them were motionless; some, however, se
- 293 Pierre, who was relapsing into nervous irritation, wanted to know what Marowsko meant by this phrase.Why would it not look well? What was there to look badly in the fact that his brother had come into the money of a friend of the family?But the cautious o
- 294 He found her dozing on a chair in the beer-shop, which was almost deserted. Three men were drinking and smoking with their elbows on the oak tables; the book-keeper in her desk was reading a novel, while the master, in his s.h.i.+rt-sleeves, lay sound asl
- 295 "The devil!" exclaimed Pierre as he sat down. "We are celebrating the accession of Jean the Rich."After the soup, Madeira was pa.s.sed round, and already every one was talking at once. Beausire was giving the history of a dinner he had
- 296 It was, in fact, possible that the girl at the beer-shop had had an evil suspicion--a suspicion worthy of such a hussy--on hearing that only one of the Roland brothers had been made heir to a stranger; but have not such natures as she always similar notio
- 297 "It was in fifty-eight, old man. Pierre was three years old. I am quite sure that I am not mistaken, for it was in that year that the child had scarlet fever, and Marechal, whom we then knew but very little, was of the greatest service to us."Ro
- 298 She had loved him. Why not? She was his mother. What then? Must a man be blind and stupid to the point of rejecting evidence because it concerns his mother? And she had been frail. Why, yes, since this man had had no other love, since he had remained fait
- 299 He went in. She was sitting up in bed, while, by her side, Roland, with a silk handkerchief by way of nightcap and his face to the wall, still lay sleeping. Nothing ever woke him but a shaking hard enough to pull his arm off. On the days when he went fis.
- 300 Pierre replied: "What does that matter? Is that a reason for living as fools do? If my fellow-townsmen are stupid and ill-bred, need I follow their example?A woman does not misconduct herself because her neighbor has a lover."Jean began to laugh