This is Volume IV of Guy de Maupassant's Collective Short Stories, including Coward, The Bed, Who Knows, and He. "Is it possible to be afraid in spite of one's self?"—Vicomte Gontran-Joseph de Signoles, the hero involved in a duel, will answer this question in Coward. You will never know there may have been so many stories taking place on a bed without reading this short story. Please follow Maupassant to find out "the exciting and terrible, as well as delightful moving occurrences" in The Bed. Who Knows is a somewhat mysterious story. The hero, a recluse, watches every piece of his furniture walk away, thinking that "[t]he thing is so bizarre, so inexplicable and so incomprehensible." Is it an illusion or a reality? After all, who knows? A bachelor is going to get married. It is nothing special and yet the reason for his marriage is ridiculous—he is afraid of himself, "afraid of that horrible sensation of incomprehensible fear." He will lead you to read his real thoughts.

《懦夫》通过描写子爵决斗前的心理活动，向我们揭示了最强大的敌人不是别人，正是我们自己，只有先战胜自己的恐惧焦虑心理，才可能战胜对手。《床》这篇文章通过一个人在床上三天的思考，向我们讲述了一个个平凡的道理。故事视角独特，读来趣味无穷，引发读者对生活的思考。《谁知道呢？》悬疑重重，亦真亦幻。主人公身上发生的匪夷所思的故事是一系列巧合和灵异的结果，还是主人公自我精神的产物？拨开层层迷雾，看您能否破解谜团？《他》通过人物在日常生活中的自然状态与在一定情势下必然有的最合情理的行动、举止、反应、表情，表现了人物内心的真实与本性的自然，并渲染了一种神秘主义的气氛。