of these little
masterpieces has been hopelessly confused. Three stories in particular,
however, may be mentioned, _La Maison Tellier_, 1881; _Les Soeurs
Rondoli_, 1884, and _Miss Harriett_, 1885, because the collections which
originally bore these names were pre-eminently successful in drawing the
attention of the critics to the author's work.

It was not until he had won a very great reputation as a short
story-teller, that De Maupassant attempted a long novel. He published
only six single volume stories, all of which are included in the present
edition. The first was _Une Vie_ (A Life), 1883, a very careful study of
Norman manners, highly finished in the manner of Flaubert, whom he has
styled "that irreproachable master whom I admire above all others." In
certain directions, I do not think that De Maupassant has surpassed _Une
Vie_, in fidelity to nature, in a Dutch exactitude of portraiture, in a
certain distinction of tone; it was the history of an unhappy
gentlewoman, doomed throughout life to be deceived, impoverished,
disdained and overwhelmed. _Bel-Ami_, 1885, which succeeded this quiet
and Quaker-colored book, was a much more vivid novel, an extremely
vigorous picture of the rise in social prominence of a penniless fellow
in Paris, without a brain or a heart, who depends wholly upon his
impudence and his good looks. After 1885 De Maupassant published four
novels--_Mont-Oriol_, 1887; _Pierre et Jean_, 1888; _Fort comme la Mort_
(As _Strong as Death_, or The Ruling Passion), 1889; and _Notre Coeur_
(Our Heart), 1890.

Of these six remarkable books, the _Pierre et Jean_ is certainly the
most finished and the most agreeable. In _Mont-Oriol_, a beautiful
landscape of Auvergne mountain and bath enshrines a singularly
pessimistic rendering of the adage "He loved and he rode away." Few of
the author's thoughtful admirers will admit that in _Fort comme la Mort_
he has done justice to his powers. In _Notre Coeur_ he has taken up one
of the psychological problems which have hitherto lain in the undisputed
province of M. Bourget, and has shown how difficult it is in the musky
atmosphere of fashionable Paris for two hearts to recover the Mayday
freshness of their impulses, the spontaneous flow of their illusions; he
displays himself here in a new light, less brutal than of old, more
delicate and analytical. With regard to _Pierre et Jean_, it would be
difficult to find words wherewith to describe it and its relation to th