About this book

A highly regarded magistrate is buried with the honors he deserves for his good services. But after his death, a strange paper is found, revealing a terrible obsession, a questioning of the pleasure it brings to destroy what is made. What monster has the magistrate hidden away? This macabre short story is one of the most disturbing works of Maupassant. Filled with philosophical thoughts and bloody answers, it explores a man’s descent into madness.