Chapter I: Front Matter

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.

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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._

THE UNKNOWN MASTERPIECE
_TO A LORD_

BY HONORÉ DE BALZAC

1845