“ The Horla ,” Dracula ’ s Older French Cousin
disappearing overnight from the nightstand , a rose floating in the middle of an alley in the garden , and the pages of a book turning by themselves , without however sacrificing the intellectual considerations that compose most of “ Letter of a Madman .” It also includes external witnesses , for it is revealed at the end of the story that three of the patient ’ s neighbors have apparently fallen prey to this strange being for they claim identical symptoms , a fact which is corroborated by the physician . The patient finishes his story by pointing out a newspaper article which reports a similar epidemic in Brazil , and stating that he indeed saw a Brazilian boat on the Seine a few days before he began feeling that strange and threatening presence around him ; he then concludes that the mysterious creature was most likely hidden aboard .
The third and final version of “ The Horla ” �the very one that was translated by Jonathan Sturges and published by Harper & Brothers in 1890�is presented under the form of a diary , which gives a day-to-day account of the protagonist ’ s battle with the invisible creature , climaxing in a tragic scene , where the narrator , attempting to eliminate the mysterious creature that has invaded his vital space and his consciousness , burns down his house and his servants along with it , to no avail since he senses that the creature is still alive , and finishes his diary contemplating suicide as the only way to escape its terrifying grip . This version uses most of the same motifs as the previous one albeit in a slightly different arrangement in order to improve their narrative efficiency : the narrator is no longer committed to a mental institution and appears on the contrary perfectly at ease at the beginning of the story , which shows him enjoying the view of the Seine from his garden and saluting a Brazilian boat which he finds particularly handsome , a gesture whose significance will not be revealed until the article describing the mysterious epidemic in Brazil
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