Julie d’Herblay watched as her daughter clumsily negotiated the dance floor. This child was impossible! Not only was she stiff as a rod, but she made absolutely no effort in regards to her dance partner... Monsieur du Plessus was a tax collector and of small nobility, but with a fortune to make the majority of the young ladies of the region pale with envy. But that idiot could care less! She was scarcely looking at him and seemed to be horribly bored.
Madame d’Herblay didn’t know what to do with that child anymore... ‘Two left feet...’ she sighed inwardly. Her daughter Renée was, in spite of this, an incredible beauty. Her face, illuminated by those limpid eyes, could leave no man indifferent to her. Julie herself had dreamed of having hair of such a pure blonde at her age... To say nothing of her ample bosom, her delicate waist, and her engaging allure. With the freshness of her youthful sixteen years, Renée could have seduced the handsomest men of the region if she only knew how to carry herself. But once she opened her mouth, all hopes of marriage went flying out the window.
She was so incredibly un-feminine: she was frank and mocking, and said everything that came into her head without any fear of injuring those handsome gentlemen. To say nothing of the fact she looked them straight in the eye instead of lowering her gaze modestly like a timid young woman should. In order to be loved, a young woman had to make her suitor believe he was the most incredible man in existence, she had to present herself as fragile so that he would yearn to protect her, she should be modest and discreet, and make him believe he truly interested her. She should be attentive to each and every word he spoke, even the most mundane... Madame d’Herblay had given up hope of ever making her daughter understand this. Yet in spite of this, she had to find some way to marry off this child!
Julie should have been firmer with her husband when Renée was a child. It really was his fault Renée was so insupportable! She had wanted to send her to a convent so that she would learn to be modest and to comport herself appropriately as a proper young lady should, but her husband was absolutely crazy about his only child. He had kept her by his side and taught her everything he felt like teaching his child. An absolute disaster! Now, Renée was an accomplished horsewoman, she knew how to handle a foil and a rifle perhaps better than many men, but was completely incapable of dancing with any grace. Her Father must have forgotten that he was raising a young lady! Worst of all, he’d turned her into a scholar! She read the old Greek philosophers, valiant epics, and poets with doubtful ideas... Her head was stuffed with fanciful ideas and romantic illusions.
She was beautiful, but beauty wasn’t everything. What man would want a woman more skillful than he with a foil, and with a sharper mind than his own? In spite of her hideous character, Monsieur du Plessus seemed to be absolutely taken with Renée. This was the third ball where he was never so much as a footstep behind her. It was un-hoped for! And that pigheaded girl wasn’t even aware of it! Her judgment was clouded over by those poems she read, and she dreamt of love and adventures... No common sense!

Renée impatiently waited for this dance to end. This Plessus was holding her far too tightly! God she hated this grotesque farce her mother forced upon her night after night! She had to smile at idiots, listen to their insipid conversation, accept their ridiculous attentions... All this so that they found her to be ignorant enough to want to marry her! It was so humiliating!
And this Plessus was disgusting. When he looked at her, she felt as though she was a piece of goods on a table at the market. There was so much disdain in his self-centered gaze that she felt defiled by his mere presence.
Even though she was as cold and repulsed as politeness allowed her to behave, he wasn’t discouraged in the slightest. She made an annoyed face whenever he addressed anything to her, she responded coldly to all of his inquiries... Her Mother could be exasperated all she wanted but she could not bring herself to accept the attentions of this repulsive man!
‘What a bore...’ She sighed. ‘These balls never end...’