TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:
In the plain text version text in italics is enclosed by _underscores_, Small Caps are represented in upper case as in SMALL CAPS and words in bold are represented as in =bold=.
A number of words in this book have both hyphenated and non-hyphenated variants. For the words with both variants present the one more used has been kept.
Obvious punctuation and other printing errors have been corrected.
The cover art included with this eBook was modified by the transcriber and is granted to the public domain.
Alexandre Dumas, Fils
SHORT STORY
CLASSICS
(FOREIGN)
VOLUME FOUR
FRENCH I
EDITED BY
William Patten
WITH
AN INTRODUCTION
AND NOTES
P. F. COLLIER & SON
NEW YORK
Copyright 1907
By P. F. Collier & Son
The use of the copyrighted translations in this
collection has been authorized by the
authors or their representatives. The
translations made especially for
this collection are covered
by the general
copyright
CONTENTS—VOLUME IV
| PAGE | |
| THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE Honoré de Balzac | [1007] |
| THE PRICE OF A LIFE Augustin Eugène Scribe | [1049] |
| NAPOLEON AND POPE PIUS VII Alfred Victor, Comte de Vigny | [1067] |
| CLAUDE GUEUX Victor Marie Hugo | [1083] |
| A BAL MASQUÉ Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie Dumas | [1105] |
| HOW THE REDOUBT WAS TAKEN Prosper Mérimée | [1121] |
| THE VENDEAN MARRIAGE Jules Gabriel Janin | [1131] |
| THE MARQUISE George Sand | [1149] |
| THE BEAUTY-SPOT Alfred Louis Charles de Musset | [1185] |
| THE MUMMY’S FOOT Théophile Gautier | [1237] |
| CIRCÉ Octave Feuillet | [1257] |
| THE HANGING AT LA PIROCHE Alexandre Dumas, Fils | [1269] |
| THE DEAN’S WATCH Erckmann-Chatrian | [1289] |
| AT THE PALAIS DE JUSTICE Alphonse Daudet | [1319] |
| BOUM-BOUM Jules Claretie | [1327] |
THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
BY HONORÉ DE BALZAC
“The Unknown Masterpiece” is considered not only one of the finest of Balzac’s tales, but he himself considered it a valuable addition to his “Philosophical Studies.” Balzac, born at Tours, 1799, died at Paris, 1850, gives one the impression of father confessor to unfortunate women of the world and of the demi-monde—a Samuel Richardson, but with far deeper, broader sympathies. In Paris he lived a life of privation, writing volumes of unsuccessful things. The first novel that appeared under his own name was “The Last Chouan,” 1827; his first success “The Ass’s Skin,” 1830.
The idea of combining under the general title of “Comédie Humaine” that long series of great novels, which rose to their highest level in “Eugénie Grandet,” did not occur to him until later.
