Or this from At the End of the Passage :

The resonant hammering of a coffin-lid is no pleasant
thing to hear, but those who have experience main-
tain that much more terrible is the soft swish of the
bed-linen, the reeving and unreeving of the bed-tapes,
when he who has fallen by the roadside is apparelled
for burial, sinking gradually as the tapes are tied
over, till the swaddled shape touches the floor and
there is no protest against the indignity of hasty
disposal.
Most of these touches may be more profit-
ably considered in discussing Mr. Kipling's
prose style. I mention them now to lay stress
upon the skill with which he plays on om:
apprehension as upon a stringed instrument.
That is what the great journalist does, and
the successful writer of short stories must
resemble the journalist in keeping up the
interest from start to finish. Maupassant had
this power, Hoffmann had it in a less degree ;
Poe and Villiers de I'lsle Adam lost it seldom, I
Balzac too often. Pater, Wilde and Anatolel
France, though one had exquisite grace, the

133 '



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RUDYARD KIPLING

second dancing wit, and the third possesses
both, are often found lacking. Their stories
sag somewhere or other. They interest us
intensely, but we can read them in sections.
