partly of mental despair. He never accepted other people's views
on the questions of life. He looked into such problems for
himself, arriving at the truth, as it appeared to him, by the
logic of events, often finding evil where he wished to find good,
but never hoodwinking himself or his readers by adapting or
distorting the reality of things to suit a preconceived idea.

Maupassant was essentially a worshiper of the eternal feminine.
He was persuaded that without the continual presence of the
gentler sex man's existence would be an emotionally silent
wilderness. No other French writer has described and analyzed so
minutely and comprehensively the many and various motives and
moods that shape the conduct of a woman in life. Take for
instance the wonderfully subtle analysis of a woman's heart as
wife and mother that we find in "Une Vie." Could aught be more
delicately incisive? Sometimes in describing the apparently
inexplicable conduct of a certain woman he leads his readers to a
point where a false step would destroy the spell and bring the
reproach of banality and ridicule upon the tale. But the
catastrophe never occurs. It was necessary to stand poised upon
the brink of the precipice to realize the depth of the abyss and
feel the terror of the fall.

Closely allied to this phase of Maupassant's nature was the
peculiar feeling of loneliness that every now and then breaks
irresistibly forth in the course of some short story. Of kindly
soul and genial heart, he suffered not only from the oppression
of spirit caused by the lack of humanity, kindliness, sanity, and
harmony which he encountered daily in the world at large, but he
had an ever abiding sense of the invincible, unbanishable