Guy de Maupassant 1850 - 1893
Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant was a popular French writer, considered one of the fathers of the modern short story and one of the form's finest exponents.
Maupassant was a protege of Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless denouements. Many are set during the Franco - Prussian War
of the 1870s, describing the futility of war and the innocent civilians
who, caught up in events beyond their control, are permanently changed
by their experiences. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three
travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, „Boule de Suif ” ("Ball of Fat", 1880), is often considered his masterpiece.
AN UNCOMFORTABLE BED
One autumn I went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a chateau in Picardy.
My friends were fond of practical joking, as all my friends are. I do not care to know any other sort of people.
When I arrived, they gave me a princely reception, which at once aroused
distrust in my breast. We had some capital shooting. They embraced me,
they cajoled me, as if they expected to have great fun at my expense.
I said to myself:
"Look out, old ferret! They have something in preparation for you."
During the dinner, the mirth was excessive, far too great, in fact. I
thought: "Here are people who take a double share of amusement, and
apparently without reason. They must be looking out in their own minds
for some good bit of fun. Assuredly I am to be the victim of the joke.
Attention !"
During the entire evening, everyone laughed in an exaggerated fashion. I
smelled a practical joke in the air, as a dog smells game. But what was
it ? I was watchful, restless. I did not let a word or a meaning or a
gesture escape me. Everyone seemed to me an object of suspicion, and I
even looked distrustfully at the faces of the servants.
The hour rang for going to bed, and the whole household came to escort
me to my room. Why? They called to me: "Good night." I entered the
apartment, shut the door, and remained standing, without moving a single
step, holding the wax candle in my hand.
I heard laughter and whispering in the corridor. Without doubt they were
spying on me. I cast a glance around the walls, the furniture, the
ceiling, the hangings, the floor. I saw nothing to justify suspicion. I
heard persons moving about outside my door. I had no doubt they were
looking through the keyhole.
An idea came into my head: "My candle may suddenly go out, and leave me in darkness."
Then I went across to the mantelpiece, and lighted all the wax candles
that were on it. After that, I cast another glance around me without
discovering anything. I advanced with short steps, carefully examining
the apartment. Nothing. I inspected every article one after the other.
Still nothing. I went over to the window. The shutters, large wooden
shutters, were open. I shut them with great care, and then drew the
curtains, enormous velvet curtains, and I placed a chair in front of
them, so as to have nothing to fear from without.
Then I cautiously sat down. The armchair was solid. I did not venture to
get into the bed. However, time was flying; and I ended by coming to
the conclusion that I was ridiculous. If they were spying on me, as I
supposed, they must, while waiting for the success of the joke they had
been preparing for me, have been laughing enormously at my terror. So I
made up my mind to go to bed. But the bed was particularly
suspicious-looking. I pulled at the curtains. They seemed to be secure.
All the same, there was danger. I was going perhaps to receive a cold
shower-bath from overhead, or perhaps, the moment I stretched myself
out, to find myself sinking under the floor with my mattress. I searched
in my memory for all the practical jokes of which I ever had
experience. And I did not want to be caught. Ah! certainly not!
certainly not ! Then I suddenly bethought myself of a precaution which I
consider one of extreme efficacy: I caught hold of the side of the
mattress gingerly, and very slowly drew it toward me. It came away,
followed by the sheet and the rest of the bedclothes. I dragged all
these objects into the very middle of the room, facing the entrance
door. I made my bed over again as best I could at some distance from the
suspected bedstead and the corner which had filled me with such
anxiety. Then, I extinguished all the candles, and, groping my way, I
slipped under the bedclothes.
For at least another hour, I remained awake, starting at the slightest
sound. Everything seemed quiet in the chateau. I fell asleep.
I must have been in a deep sleep for a long time, but all of a sudden, I
was awakened with a start by the fall of a heavy body tumbling right on
top of my own body, and, at the same time, I received on my face, on my
neck, and on my chest a burning liquid which made me utter a howl of
pain. And a dreadful noise, as if a sideboard laden with plates and
dishes had fallen down, penetrated my ears.
I felt myself suffocating under the weight that was crushing me and
preventing me from moving. I stretched out my hand to find out what was
the nature of this object. I felt a face, a nose, and whiskers. Then
with all my strength I launched out a blow over this face. But I
immediately received a hail of cuffings which made me jump straight out
of the soaked sheets, and rush in my nightshirt into the corridor, the
door of which I found open.
O stupor ! it was broad daylight. The noise brought my friends hurrying
into the apartment, and we found, sprawling over my improvised bed, the
dismayed valet, who, while bringing me my morning cup of tea, had
tripped over this obstacle in the middle of the floor, and fallen on his
stomach, spilling, in spite of himself, my breakfast over my face.
The precautions I had taken in closing the shutters and going to sleep
in the middle of the room had only brought about the interlude I had
been striving to avoid.
Ah! how they all laughed that day !
GHOSTS
Just at the time when the
Concordat
was in its most flourishing condition, a young man belonging to a
wealthy and highly respected middle-class family went to the office of
the head of the police at P, and begged for his help and advice, which
was immediately promised him.
"My father threatens to disinherit me," the young man then began,
"although I have never offended against the laws of the State, of
morality or of his paternal authority, merely because I do not share his
blind reverence for the Catholic Church and her Ministers. On that
account he looks upon me, not merely as Latitudinarian, but as a perfect
Atheist, and a faithful old manservant of ours, who is much attached to
me, and who accidentally saw my father's will, told me in confidence
that he had left all his property to the Jesuits. I think this is highly
suspicious, and I fear that the priests have been maligning me to my
father. Until less than a year ago, we used to live very quietly and
happily together, but ever since he has had so much to do with the
clergy, our domestic peace and happiness are at an end."
"What you have told me," the official replied, "is as likely as it is
regrettable, but I fail to see how I can interfere in the matter. Your
father is in full possession of all his mental faculties, and can
dispose of all his property exactly as he pleases. I also think that
your protest is premature; you must wait until his will can legally take
effect, and then you can invoke the aid of justice; I am sorry to say
that I can do nothing for you."
"I think you will be able to," the young man replied; "for I believe
that a very clever piece of deceit is being carried on here."
"How ? Please explain yourself more clearly."
"When I remonstrated with him, yesterday evening, he referred to my dead
mother, and at last assured me, in a voice of the deepest conviction,
that she had frequently appeared to him, and had threatened him with all
the torments of the damned if he did not disinherit his son, who had
fallen away from God, and leave all his property to the Church. Now I do
not believe in ghosts."
"Neither do I," the police director replied; "but I cannot well do
anything on this dangerous ground if I had nothing but superstitions to
go upon. You know how the Church rules all our affairs since the
Concordat
with Rome, and if I investigate this matter, and obtain no results, I am
risking my post. It would be very different if you could adduce any
proofs for your suspicions. I do not deny that I should like to see the
clerical party, which will, I fear, be the ruin of Austria, receive a
staggering blow; try, therefore, to get to the bottom of this business,
and then we will talk it over again."
About a month passed without the young Latitudinarian being heard of;
but then he suddenly came one evening, evidently in a great state of
excitement, and told him that he was in a position to expose the
priestly deceit which he had mentioned, if the authorities would assist
him. The police director asked for further information.
"I have obtained a number of important clews," the young man said. "In
the first place, my father confessed to me that my mother did not appear
to him in our house, but in the churchyard where she is buried. My
mother was consumptive for many years, and a few weeks before her death
she went to the village of S, where she died and was buried. In
addition to this, I found out from our footman that my father has
already left the house twice, late at night, in company of X, the
Jesuit priest, and that on both occasions he did not return till
morning. Each time he was remarkably uneasy and low-spirited after his
return, and had three masses said for my dead mother. He also told me
just now that he has to leave home this evening on business, but
immediately he told me that, our footman saw the Jesuit go out of the
house. We may, therefore, assume that he intends this evening to consult
the spirit of my dead mother again, and this would be an excellent
opportunity for getting on the track of the matter, if you do not object
to opposing the most powerful force in the Empire, for the sake of such
an insignificant individual as myself."
"Every citizen has an equal right to the protection of the State," the
police director replied; "and I think that I have shown often enough
that I am not wanting in courage to perform my duty, no matter how
serious the consequences may be; but only very young men act without any
prospects of success, as they are carried away by their feelings. When
you came to me the first time, I was obliged to refuse your request for
assistance, but to-day your shares have risen in value. It is now eight
o'clock, and I shall expect you in two hours' time here in my office. At
present, all you have to do is to hold your tongue; everything else is
my affair."
As soon as it was dark, four men got into a closed carriage in the yard
of the police office, and were driven in the direction of the village of
S; their carriage, however, did not enter the village, but stopped at
the edge of a small wood in the immediate neighborhood. Here they all
four alighted; they were the police director, accompanied by the young
Latitudinarian, a police sergeant and an ordinary policeman, who was,
however, dressed in plain clothes.
"The first thing for us to do is to examine the locality carefully," the
police director said: "it is eleven o'clock and the exercisers of
ghosts will not arrive before midnight, so we have time to look round
us, and to take our measure."
The four men went to the churchyard, which lay at the end of the
village, near the little wood. Everything was as still as death, and not
a soul was to be seen. The sexton was evidently sitting in the public
house, for they found the door of his cottage locked, as well as the
door of the little chapel that stood in the middle of the churchyard.
"Where is your mother's grave ?" the police director asked; but as there
were only a few stars visible, it was not easy to find it, but at last
they managed it, and the police director looked about in the
neighborhood of it.
"The position is not a very favorable one for us," he said at last;
"there is nothing here, not even a shrub, behind which we could hide."
But just then, the policeman said that he had tried to get into the
sexton's hut through the door or the window, and that at last he had
succeeded in doing so by breaking open a square in a window, which had
been mended with paper, and that he had opened it and obtained
posesssion of the key which he brought to the police director.
His plans were very quickly settled. He had the chapel opened and went
in with the young Latitudinarian; then he told the police sergeant to
lock the door behind him and to put the key back where he had found it,
and to shut the window of the sexton's cottage carefully. Lastly, he
made arrangements as to what they were to do in case anything unforeseen
should occur, whereupon the sergeant and the constable left the
churchyard, and lay down in a ditch at some distance from the gate, but
opposite to it.
Almost as soon as the clock struck half-past eleven, they heard steps
near the chapel, whereupon the police director and the young
Latitudinarian went to the window, in order to watch the beginning of
the exorcism, and as the chapel was in total darkness, they thought that
they should be able to see, without being seen; but matters turned out
differently from what they expected.
Suddenly, the key turned in the lock, and they barely had time to
conceal themselves behind the altar before two men came in, one of whom
was carrying a dark lantern. One was the young man's father, an elderly
man of the middle class, who seemed very unhappy and depressed, the
other the Jesuit father K, a tall, thin, big-boned man, with a thin,
bilious face, in which two large gray eyes shone restlessly under their
bushy black eyebrows. He lit the tapers, which were standing on the
altar, and then began to say a
Requiem Mass; while the old man knelt on the altar steps and served him.
When it was over, the Jesuit took the book of the Gospels and the
holy-water sprinkler, and went slowly out of the chapel, while the old
man followed him, with a holy-water basin in one hand and a taper in the
other. Then the police director left his hiding place, and stooping
down, so as not to be seen, he crept to the chapel window, where he
cowered down carefully, and the young man followed his example. They
were now looking straight on his mother's grave.
The Jesuit, followed by the superstitious old man, walked three times
round the grave, then he remained standing before it, and by the light
of the taper he read a few passages from the Gospel; then he dipped the
holy-water sprinkler three times into the holy-water basin, and
sprinkled the grave three times; then both returned to the chapel, knelt
down outside it with their faces toward the grave, and began to pray
aloud, until at last the Jesuit sprang up, in a species of wild ecstasy,
and cried out three times in a shrill voice:
Scarcely had the last word of the exorcism died away when thick, blue
smoke rose out of the grave, which rapidly grew into a cloud, and began
to assume the outlines of a human body, until at last a tall, white
figure stood behind the grave, and beckoned with its hand.
"Who art thou ?" the Jesuit asked solemnly, while the old man began to cry.
"When I was alive, I was called Anna Maria B," the ghost replied in a hollow voice.
"Will you answer all my questions?" the priest continued.
"As far as I can."
"Have you not yet been delivered from purgatory by our prayers, and all the Masses for your soul, which we have said for you ?"
"Not yet, but soon, soon I shall be."
"When ?"
"As soon as that blasphemer, my son, has been punished."
"Has that not already happened ? Has not your husband disinherited his lost son, and made the Church his heir, in his place ?"
"That is not enough."
"What must he do besides ?"
"He must deposit his will with the Judicial Authorities as his last will
and testament, and drive the reprobate out of his house."
"Consider well what you are saying; must this really be ?"
"It must, or otherwise I shall have to languish in purgatory much
longer," the sepulchral voice replied with a deep sigh; but the next
moment it yelled out in terror:
"Oh! Good Lord!" and the ghost began to run away as fast as it could. A
shrill whistle was heard, and then another, and the police director laid
his hand on the shoulder of the exorciser accompanied with the remark:
"You are in custody."
Meanwhile, the police sergeant and the policeman, who had come into the
churchyard, had caught the ghost, and dragged it forward. It was the
sexton, who had put on a flowing, white dress, and who wore a wax mask,
which bore striking resemblance to his mother, as the son declared.
When the case was heard, it was proved that the mask had been very
skillfully made from a portrait of the deceased woman. The Government
gave orders that the matter should be investigated as secretly as
possible, and left the punishment of Father K to the spiritual
authorities, which was a matter of course, at a time when priests were
outside the jurisdiction of the Civil Authorities; and it is needless to
say that he was very comfortable during his imprisonment, in a
monastery in a part of the country which abounded with game and trout.
The only valuable result of the amusing ghost story was that it brought
about a reconciliation between father and son, and the former, as a
matter of fact, felt such deep respect for priests and their ghosts in
consequence of the apparition that a short time after his wife had left
purgatory for the last time in order to talk with him he turned
Protestant.
FEAR
We went up on deck after dinner. Before us the Mediterranean lay without
a ripple and shimmering in the moonlight. The great ship glided on,
casting upward to the star-studded sky a long serpent of black smoke.
Behind us the dazzling white water, stirred by the rapid progress of the heavy bark and beaten by the propeller, foamed, seemed to writhe, gave off so much brilliancy that one could have called it boiling moonlight.
Behind us the dazzling white water, stirred by the rapid progress of the heavy bark and beaten by the propeller, foamed, seemed to writhe, gave off so much brilliancy that one could have called it boiling moonlight.
There were six or eight of us silent with admiration and gazing toward
far-away Africa whither we were going.
The commandant, who was smoking a cigar with us, brusquely resumed the conversation begun at dinner.
The commandant, who was smoking a cigar with us, brusquely resumed the conversation begun at dinner.
"Yes, I was afraid then. My ship remained for six hours on that rock,
beaten by the wind and with a great hole in the side. Luckily we were
picked up toward evening by an English coaler which sighted us."
Then a tall man of sunburned face and grave demeanor, one of those men
who have evidently traveled unknown and far-away lands, whose calm eye
seems to preserve in its depths something of the foreign scenes it has
observed, a man that you are sure is impregnated with courage, spoke for
the first time.
"You say, commandant, that you were afraid. I beg to disagree with you.
You are in error as to the meaning of the word and the nature of the
sensation that you experienced. An energetic man is never afraid in the
presence of urgent danger. He is excited, aroused, full of anxiety, but
fear is something quite different."
The commandant laughed and answered: "Bah ! I assure you that I was afraid."
Then the man of the tanned countenance addressed us deliberately as follows:
"Permit me to explain. Fear and the boldest men may feel fear, is
something horrible, an atrocious sensation, a sort of decomposition of
the soul, a terrible spasm of brain and heart, the very memory of which
brings a shudder of anguish, but when one is brave he feels it neither
under fire nor in the presence of sure death nor in the face of any
well-known danger. It springs up under certain abnormal conditions,
under certain mysterious influences in the presence of vague peril. Real
fear is a sort of reminiscence of fantastic terror of the past. A man
who believes in ghosts and imagines he sees a specter in the darkness
must feel fear in all its horror.
"As for me I was overwhelmed with fear in broad daylight about ten years ago and again one December night last winter.
"Nevertheless, I have gone through many dangers, many adventures which
seemed to promise death. I have often been in battle. I have been left
for dead by thieves. In America I was condemned as an insurgent to be
hanged, and off the coast of China have been thrown into the sea from
the deck of a ship. Each time I thought I was lost I at once decided
upon my course of action without regret or weakness.
"That is not fear.
"I have felt it in Africa, and yet it is a child of the north. The
sunlight banishes it like the mist. Consider this fact, gentlemen. Among
the Orientals life has no value; resignation is natural. The nights are
clear and empty of the somber spirit of unrest which haunts the brain
in cooler lands. In the Orient panic is known, but not fear.
"Well, then! Here is the incident that befell me in Africa.
"I was crossing the great sands to the south of Onargla. It is one of
the most curious districts in the world. You have seen the solid
continuous sand of the endless ocean strands. Well, imagine the ocean
itself turned to sand in the midst of a storm. Imagine a silent tempest
with motionless billows of yellow dust. They are high as mountains,
these uneven, varied surges, rising exactly like unchained billows, but
still larger, and stratified like watered silk. On this wild, silent,
and motionless sea, the consuming rays of the tropical sun are poured
pitilessly and directly. You have to climb these streaks of red-hot ash,
descend again on the other side, climb again, climb, climb without
halt, without repose, without shade. The horses cough, sink to their
knees and slide down the sides of these remarkable hills.
"We were a couple of friends followed by eight spahis and four camels
with their drivers. We were no longer talking, overcome by heat,
fatigue, and a thirst such as had produced this burning desert. Suddenly
one of our men uttered a cry. We all halted, surprised by an unsolved
phenomenon known only to travelers in these trackless wastes.
"Somewhere, near us, in an indeterminable direction, a drum was rolling,
the mysterious drum of the sands. It was beating distinctly, now with
greater resonance and again feebler, ceasing, then resuming its uncanny
roll.
"The Arabs, terrified, stared at one another, and one said in his
language: 'Death is upon us.' As he spoke, my companion, my friend,
almost a brother, dropped from his horse, falling face downward on the
sand, overcome by a sunstroke.
"And for two hours, while I tried in vain to save him, this weird drum
filled my ears with its monotonous, intermittent and incomprehensible
tone, and I felt lay hold of my bones fear, real fear, hideous fear, in
the presence of this beloved corpse, in this hole scorched by the sun,
surrounded by four mountains of sand, and two hundred leagues from any
French settlement, while echo assailed our ears with this furious drum
beat.
"On that day I realized what fear was, but since then I have had another, and still more vivid experience"
The commandant interrupted the speaker:
"I beg your pardon, but what was the drum ?"
The traveler replied:
"I cannot say. No one knows. Our officers are often surprised by this
singular noise and attribute it generally to the echo produced by a hail
of grains of sand blown by the wind against the dry and brittle leaves
of weeds, for it has always been noticed that the phenomenon occurs in
proximity to little plants burned by the sun and hard as parchment. This
sound seems to have been magnified, multiplied, and swelled beyond
measure in its progress through the valleys of sand, and the drum
therefore might be considered a sort of sound mirage. Nothing more. But I
did not know that until later.
"I shall proceed to my second instance.
"It was last winter, in a forest of the Northeast of France. The sky was
so overcast that night came two hours earlier than usual. My guide was a
peasant who walked beside me along the narrow road, under the vault of
fir trees, through which the wind in its fury howled. Between the tree
tops, I saw the fleeting clouds, which seemed to hasten as if to escape
some object of terror. Sometimes in a fierce gust of wind the whole
forest bowed in the same direction with a groan of pain, and a chill
laid hold of me, despite my rapid pace and heavy clothing.
"We were to sup and sleep at an old gamekeeper's house not much farther on. I had come out for hunting.
"My guide sometimes raised his eyes and murmured: 'Ugly weather !' Then
he told me about the people among whom we were to spend the night. The
father had killed a poacher, two years before, and since then had been
gloomy and behaved as though haunted by a memory. His two sons were
married and lived with him.
"The darkness was profound. I could see nothing before me nor around me
and the mass of overhanging interlacing trees rubbed together, filling
the night with an incessant whispering. Finally I saw a light and soon
my companion was knocking upon a door. Sharp women's voices answered us,
then a man's voice, a choking voice, asked, 'Who goes there ?' My guide
gave his name. We entered and beheld a memorable picture.
"An old man with white hair, wild eyes, and a loaded gun in his hands,
stood waiting for us in the middle of the kitchen, while two stalwart
youths, armed with axes, guarded the door. In the somber corners I
distinguished two women kneeling with faces to the wall.
"Matters were explained, and the old man stood his gun against the wall,
at the same time ordering that a room be prepared for me. Then, as the
women did not stir: 'Look you, monsieur,' said he, 'two years ago this
night I killed a man, and last year he came back to haunt me. I expect
him again to-night.'
"Then he added in a tone that made me smile:
"'And so we are somewhat excited.'
"I reassured him as best I could, happy to have arrived on that
particular evening and to witness this superstitious terror. I told
stories and almost succeeded in calming the whole household.
"Near the fireplace slept an old dog, mustached and almost blind, with
his head between his paws, such a dog as reminds you of people you have
known.
"Outside, the raging storm was beating against the little house, and
suddenly through a small pane of glass, a sort of peep-window placed
near the door, I saw in a brilliant flash of lightning a whole mass of
trees thrashed by the wind.
"In spite of my efforts, I realized that terror was laying hold of these
people, and each time that I ceased to speak, all ears listened for
distant sounds. Annoyed at these foolish fears, I was about to retire to
my bed, when the old gamekeeper suddenly leaped from his chair, seized
his gun and stammered wildly: 'There he is, there he is! I hear him!'
The two women again sank upon their knees in the corner and hid their
faces, while the sons took up the axes. I was going to try to pacify
them once more, when the sleeping dog awakened suddenly and, raising his
head and stretching his neck, looked at the fire with his dim eyes and
uttered one of those mournful howls which make travelers shudder in the
darkness and solitude of the country. All eyes were focused upon him now
as he rose on his front feet, as though haunted by a vision, and began
to howl at something invisible, unknown, and doubtless horrible, for he
was bristling all over. The gamekeeper with livid face cried: 'He scents
him! He scents him! He was there when I killed him.' The two women,
terrified, began to wail in concert with the dog.
"In spite of myself, cold chills ran down my spine. This vision of the
animal at such a time and place, in the midst of these startled people,
was something frightful to witness.
"Then for an hour the dog howled without stirring; he howled as though
in the anguish of a nightmare; and fear, horrible fear came over me.
Fear of what ? How can I say ? It was fear, and that is all I know.
"We remained motionless and pale, expecting something awful to happen.
Our ears were strained and our hearts beat loudly while the slightest
noise startled us. Then the beast began to walk around the room,
sniffing at the walls and growling constantly. His maneuvers were
driving us mad ! Then the countryman, who had brought me thither, in a
paroxysm of rage, seized the dog, and carrying him to a door, which
opened into a small court, thrust him forth.
"The noise was suppressed and we were left plunged in a silence still
more terrible. Then suddenly we all started. Some one was gliding along
the outside wall toward the forest; then he seemed to be feeling of the
door with a trembling hand; then for two minutes nothing was heard and
we almost lost our minds. Then he returned, still feeling along the
wall, and scratched lightly upon the door as a child might do with his
finger nails. Suddenly a face appeared behind the glass of the
peep-window, a white face with eyes shining like those of the cat tribe.
A sound was heard, an indistinct plaintive murmur.
"Then there was a formidable burst of noise in the kitchen. The old
gamekeeper had fired and the two sons at once rushed forward and
barricaded the window with the great table, reinforcing it with the
buffet.
"I swear to you that at the shock of the gun's discharge, which I did
not expect, such an anguish laid hold of my heart, my soul, and my very
body that I felt myself about to fall, about to die from fear.
"We remained there until dawn, unable to move, in short, seized by an indescribable numbness of the brain.
"No one dared to remove the barricade until a thin ray of sunlight appeared through a crack in the back room.
"At the base of the wall and under the window, we found the old dog lying dead, his skull shattered by a ball.
"He had escaped from the little court by digging a hole under a fence."
The dark-visaged man became silent, then he added:
"And yet on that night I incurred no danger, but I should rather again
pass through all the hours in which I have confronted the most terrible
perils than the one minute when that gun was discharged at the bearded
head in the window."