Œuvres complètes de Guy de Maupassant - volume 10

A carriage rolls up a mist‑filled hill in early autumn, the air scented with cut wheat and distant alouette song. Inside, four women and three men linger between sleep and wakefulness, trading idle banter as the landscape awakens beneath them. When the aging painter Léon Chenal is asked for a tale, he offers a solemn confession of the most tragic love he ever knew.

His narration drifts back to a youthful life of wandering along the Normandy coast, living off the generosity of inns and the fleeting charms of roadside girls. Through vivid, almost tactile details, he paints a world where freedom and longing intertwine, and where every stolen kiss feels as sharp as a wild fruit. Listeners will be drawn into the bittersweet mood of a masterful 19th‑century short story, where the beauty of the journey outshines any destination.