Original Short Stories — Volume 10

by Guy de Maupassant

“'What is it, my dear Jean?'

“'I have something to tell you.'

“'Tell it, my dear Jean.'

“'You remember Louise, my wife.'

“'Certainly, I remember her.'

“'Well, she left me a message for you.'

“'What was it?'

“'A—a—well, it was what you might call a confession.'

“'Ha—and what was it about?'

“'It was—it was—I'd rather, all the same, tell you nothing about it—but I must—I must. Well, it's this—it wasn't consumption she died of at all. It was grief—well, that's the long and short of it. As soon as she came to live here after we were married, she grew thin; she changed so that you wouldn't know her, M'sieu le Baron. She was just as I was before I married her, but it was just the opposite, just the opposite.