Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893) wrote in his lifetime nearly 300 short stories, and with their distinct style, he became one of the masters of the short story. Shaded with irony, de Maupassant’s stories illuminate parts of the human mind and soul, and find unfamiliar ones, threatening even. This way, the gaps between what the characters represent exteriorly, socially or “publicly,” from who they “truly” are, are being constantly fought over. And the result? Arguments and quarrels that create narrative drama, big as small, which conclude mostly with a twist right with the ending.