Page:Pierre and Jean - Clara Bell - 1902.djvu/27

Rh belief, which seems to depend on a single story, Le Horla, is curiously ill-founded, and must be disproved. Maupassant only wrote four or five supernatural stories, and nine or ten relating to crime; and it may safely be said that except two powerful sketches, Le Vagabond and Le Diable, none of them rank among his best work. The vampire tale of Le Horla gained a quite factitious notoriety through its supposed bearing on the attack of general paralysis which so tragically closed its author's career. But on the testimony of his mother, Maupassant was perfectly well and cheerful when he wrote Le Horla. In any case it is not a very alarming fantasy, and it belongs rather to a class of semi-pathological studies, of which a word will be said later. La Peur has some good moments, especially when the ghost of the slain poacher is believed to be prowling round the lonely forest-lodge, and the keepers, the bravest of men as a rule, are half-maddened with terror. L Auberge, an Alpine scene, is a commonplace story enough. In fact, whether the subject relates to crime or to the unseen, we miss the deep authentic thrill which distinguishes such master-pieces of horror as Uncle Silas or Mr. Henry James' appalling Turn of the Screw. Little need