Madame Tellier's Establisment Author:Guy de Maupassant General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1917 Original Publisher: Leslie-Judge Co. Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you ca... more »n select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: Mother and Son PARTY of men were chatting in the smoking-room after dinner. We were talking of unexpected legacies, strange inheritances. Then M. le Bru- ment, who was sometimes called " the illustrious judge" and at other times '' the illustrious lawyer," went and stood with his back to the fire. " I have," said he, " to search for an heir who disappeared under peculiarly terrible circumstances. It is one of those simple and terrible dramas of ordinary life, a thing which possibly happens every day, and which is nevertheless one of the most dreadful things I know. Here are the facts: '' Nearly six months ago I was called to the bedside of a dying woman. She said to me: " ' Monsieur, I want to intrust to you the most delicate, the most difficult, and the most wearisome mission that can be conceived. Be good enough to notice my will, which is there on the table. A sumof five thousand francs is left to you as a fee if you do not succeed, and of a hundred thousand francs if you do succeed. I want you to find my son after my death.' " She asked me to assist her to sit up in bed, in order that she might talk with greater ease, for her voice, broken and gasping, was whistling in her throat. " It was a very wealthy establishment. The luxurious apartment, of an elegant simplicity, was upholstered with materials as thick as walls, with a soft inviting surface. " The dying woman continued: " ' You are the first to hear my horrible story. I will try to have strength enough to finish it. You must know all, in order that you, whom I know to be a kind-hearted man as well ...« less