Page:The Mantle and Other Stories.djvu/21

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PREFACE
17

laugh and weep in turns while reading this charming story, in which the art of the narrator is disguised by simplicity. All is true and natural; every detail is attractive and adds to the general effect.


Translator's Note.—The rest of Merimée's essay is occupied with analyses of Gogol's "Dead Souls" and "The Revisor" and therefore is not given here.