THE ACCURSED HOUSE ÉMILE GABORIAU 1415 THE FÊTE AT COQUEVILLE ÉMILE ZOLA 1427 THE LOST CHILD FRANÇOIS COPPÉE 1471 PUTOIS ANATOLE FRANCE 1495 SAC-AU-DOS JORIS KARL HUYSMANS 1515 “BONJOUR, MONSIEUR” JEAN RICHEPIN 1559 THE BIT OF STRING GUY DE MAUPASSANT 1571 THE NECKLACE GUY DE MAUPASSANT 1581 THE WALL OPPOSITE PIERRE LOTI 1595 THE ANCESTOR PAUL BOURGET 1605 WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE BOY HENRI LAVEDAN 1639 A GENTLEMAN FINDS A WATCH GEORGES COURTELINE 1651 A YOUNG GIRL’S DIARY MARCEL PRÉVOST 1659 THE SIGN OF THE KEY AND THE CROSS HENRI DE RÉGNIER 1671 THE TELEGRAPH OPERATOR ALPHONSE ALLAIS 1685 _PREFACE_ _When the five-volume collection known as “Short Story Classics (American)” was planned, it was entirely evident that it should be supplemented by a collection of the best examples of the short story to be found in foreign literatures._ _The five volumes now offered to the public are designed to supply this lack. They contain seventy-eight short stories, chosen from the literatures of France, Russia, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland--works of importance that have made their mark in the literary world._ _The aim has been not only to represent the most widely sympathetic writers, but to select their most generally interesting as well as characteristic stories. The stories have all been written within the last seventy-five years, which has this advantage for the reader, that the scope of the collection may be said to lie within present-day interests._ _None of the stories by the following authors appear in any other collection:_ _FRENCH_