Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant  was a French writer, remembered as a master of the short story form, and as a representative of the naturalist school of writers, who depicted human lives and destinies and social forces in disillusioned and often pessimistic terms.

Maupassant was a protege of Gustave Flaubert and his stories are characterized by economy of style and efficient, effortless dénouements. He wrote some 300 short stories, six novels, three travel books, and one volume of verse. His first published story, "Boule de Suif" ("Ball of Fat," 1880), is often considered his masterpiece, to which we may later attend.  Today’s story, “A Ghost,” relates the tale of a brief haunting that results in a lifelong terror.