Elsie Martindale Hueffer (28 September 1876 - 29 January 1949) was an early translator of Guy de Maupassant’s short stories into English.

Born in London, she was the third child of Dr William Martindale, an analytical chemist, author of Extra Pharmacopeia and assistant to Lord Lister, and mother Mariah, a matron at a hospital in Dublin.

She suffered from a “tubercular affection of the knee” and was sent to Pretoria House,[3] a progressive, trilingual (English, German and French) school initially located on Harley Street, London,[4] which later moved to Folkestone, Kent.

[8] While Ford was travelling in Europe the couple wrote love letters to each other, and by March 1893, without her parents’ blessing, they had become engaged.

Her father sought counsel from “the cautious” William Rossetti, who suggested that he ask Ford for an apology and establish an agreement regarding limited visits and letters until they were of an age to marry.

Instead of heeding Rossetti's advice, however, her father sent Ford an angry letter stating, among other things, "you must prove to me that you possess more true manliness than you have exhibited during the last twelve months".

As part of her father's rescue efforts, he called on both Edward Elgar and Rossetti to check on Elsie's whereabouts, but to no avail.

[24] At some point in the early 1920s, she converted to Catholicism[25] and, despite his regular requests, continued to refuse him a divorce,[26] calling herself Mrs Elsie Hueffer for the rest of her life.

[29] Ford's attempts to divorce Hueffer and marry Hunt inspired his time-travelling novel Ladies Whose Bright Eyes (pub.

Published in 1903 as Stories from de Maupassant, this was one of the earliest collections of his work in English,[36] with Ford contributing a preface and Conrad assisting with suggestions in the "office of an intelligent dictionary".

[37] In a letter to Ford, Conrad wrote, "I consider her by temperament eminently fit for the task and her appreciation of the author guarantees success.

[47] In 1925 she became involved in trying to ensure the continuity – after only eight issues – of the short-lived publication Two Worlds, Samuel Roth’s “literary quarterly devoted to the increase of the gaiety of nations”.