# Short Fiction — Chapters explained

> Chapter companions for Short Fiction by Daphne du Maurier.

- [Terror](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/terror.md): Six-year-old Bridget wakes in the night to a strange noise and becomes terrified by the shadows and objects in her dark room, which transform into menacing figures. She screams for Nanny, but when Nanny arrives, she scol
- [A Difference in Temperament](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/a-difference-in-temperament.md): A man and a woman argue about his desire to go out alone for lunch. He craves independence and freedom, while she wants to share everything and feels hurt by his secrecy. After a tense exchange, he leaves, buys her an az
- [A Man of Straw](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/a-man-of-straw.md): The narrator encounters an old acquaintance, Marlow, in Leicester Square and takes him to dinner. Marlow recounts his life story of failure and self-pity: a failed marriage to Kate, an affair with a young woman named Nan
- [The Lover](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/the-lover.md): A man navigates a series of romantic entanglements, manipulating his lovers with empty promises and self-serving rhetoric while avoiding genuine emotional commitment. The chapter exposes the transactional nature of his r
- [The Supreme Artist](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/the-supreme-artist.md): An actor receives a visit from Mrs. John Pearce, a woman from his past whom he initially fails to recognize. He pretends to remember her, but their conversation reveals a deep romantic history. She is content in her long
- [Frustration](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/frustration.md): After a seven-year engagement, a young man finally marries his bride, but their honeymoon camping trip is a disaster: the tent collapses in the rain, their car is stolen, and they end up wandering lost to London. They fi
- [Indiscretion](https://www.betterreads.online/discover/short_fiction_12_se/chapters/indiscretion.md): The narrator reflects on how a moment's indiscretion can ruin lives, recounting how he lost his job and his boss's marriage collapsed after he carelessly spoke about a past encounter with a vulnerable girl from Wardour S

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