I was born one evening in October at Saint-Michel-les-Hêtres, a small town in the department of Orne, and I was immediately christened by the name of Jean-François-Marie-Mintié. To celebrate in a fitt...

Our regiment was what is called a march regiment, that is, one formed while on the march. It had been made up at Mans, after much trouble, of all the remains of a corps of dissimilar fighting units wh...

Toc, toc, toc. And at the same time a small drawn otter skin bonnet appeared in the slight opening of the door, followed by two smiling eyes under a veil, then a long fur cape which outlined the slend...

“Madame Juliette Roux, if you please?” “Will Monsieur please come in?” the maid asked. Without demanding my name or waiting for my answer, she made me cross a small, dark antechamber, and led me into ...

I wish I did not have to continue this story. I wish I could stop here.⁠ ⁠… Ah, how I wish I could do that! At the thought that I am about to disclose so much ignominy, my courage fails me, I blush fo...

Juliette was not long in wearying of this beautiful apartment where she had promised herself so much peace and happiness. Having arranged her wardrobes and put her knickknacks in order, she did not kn...

My properties, the Priory itself, the old familiar house mortgaged several times, were sold!⁠ ⁠… Ah! the sad journey which I made on that occasion!⁠ ⁠… It was a long time since I had been to Saint-Mic...

“Lirat! Ah, at last it is you! For a week I have been looking for you, have been writing to you, have been calling you, have been waiting for you.⁠ ⁠… Lirat, my dear Lirat, save me!” “What? My God! Wh...

Lying flat upon the dune, face downward, my elbows sunk in the sand with head buried in my hands, and staring into the space before me, I dream.⁠ ⁠… The sea is in front of me, immense and glaucous, st...

It is a week since I have been able to sleep. There is a hood of red hot iron upon my head. My blood thickens, one might say that my dilated arteries were bursting, and I have the sensation of tongues...

Juliette had chosen a room for me on the second floor of a furnished house in the Faubourg Saint Honoré near the Rue de Balzac. The furniture of the room was rickety, the tapestry worn, the drawers cr...

When I regained my senses, the killing of Spy appeared to me a monstrous crime. I was as horrified as if I had killed a child. Of all the cowardly acts committed I thought that was the most cowardly a...