And the old man raised himself up in a paroxysm of agony. His look was ecstatic. One felt that over the threshold of death he saw his ideal. He made a terrible effort to express it, and the wondrous phrase fell from his lips with his last sigh.
It was, "Bonjour, Monsieur!"
THE BIT OF STRING
AND
THE NECKLACE
BY HENRI RENÉ ALBERT GUY DE MAUPASSANT
Guy de Maupassant, writer of the short story par excellence, was born at the Château of Miromesnil in 1850, and died insane at Paris in 1893. His godfather Flaubert said of his first story, the "Boule de Suif," which appeared in a miscellany called "Les Soirées de Médan": "I consider it a chef-d'oeuvre—that little story will stay, you may be sure." De Maupassant was for a few years connected with the Ministry of Marine and Public Instruction. Besides his almost perfect short stories, he has written plays and novels.
De Maupassant describes himself admirably in one of his heroes, "armed with an eye that gathers images, attitudes, manners with the precision of a camera." His style is calm, robust, sober, clean-cut, impersonal. "The Bit of String" and "The Necklace" are two famous examples of De Maupassant at his best.
THE BIT OF STRING
BY GUY DE MAUPASSANT