Torsade Literary Space Frédéric Boutet: The Leveler (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Leveler (complete) Young Pierre-Édouard Harleur, student at the Central College and son of a northern factory owner, had decided himself on (while he much despised the distracting noises and bohemian pleasures) passing a Carnival evening in the […]
Frédéric Boutet: A Thief (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales A Thief (complete) It was after midnight. M. Fallaire, wearing his mauve pajamas, stretched himself in his armchair by his bedroom window. He smoked a cigar. The blind was lowered and the lamp extinguished, and in the darkness he sat […]
Frédéric Boutet: Madame Paul (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales Madame Paul (complete) “Two-thirty, dammit. I’ll have to get on with my rounds. Goodbye, Madame Paul.” “Goodbye, Monsieur Morin.” The customer, a traveling salesman who’d stopped to refresh himself, paid for his beer, returned to his car and […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Edge (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Edge (complete) “Toto! Stay still while I wash your face! And you, Jules, will you hold your little sister properly, or else…that’s all I have to say! And Louise! Put on your stockings. Do not have your […]
Frédéric Boutet: Good Counsel (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales Good Counsel (complete) After a bridge, and at the meeting of two roads before a house where the sign read: Café-Restaurant, M. Bridol stopped his car, a little automobile he drove himself, and alighted with bounce and elegance. […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Legacy (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Legacy (complete) It was evening, Mme Lefertin at her sewing, next to the table set for dinner. M. Lefertin appeared, looking so pale and distraught that she stood, her work falling from her hands… “Octave! My God! […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Peacock Feathers (complete, plus a bonus!)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Peacock Feathers (complete) “The Arthur Harris affair is one of the drollest I have ever seen.” (This was told us by the illustrious London detective Barnay.) “The police at first allowed themselves to be taken in, as […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Passenger (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Passenger (complete) This story is long past…it took place nearly forty years ago. We were told it by one Captain Marius Cazavan, retired, of Marseille. “But I recall everything as though it were yesterday. I sailed for a firm out of […]
Frédéric Boutet: The Faker (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales The Faker (complete) The man stood haggard, still gripping the knife. He was in a sordid hotel room, the dead girl stretched at his feet, a dark pool oozing from her open throat. He had found her working the boulevard Sébastopol. […]
Frédéric Boutet: Berthe (complete)
Frédéric Boutet Tales Berthe (complete) He closed the store in haste and ran onto the rue de Rivoli, towards the boulevard de Sébastopol. She might be waiting. Before turning at the corner, he stopped a minute, a habit of his, before […]