A novel written in the early 20th century. It centers on Benjamine, a thoughtful young woman in Cannes, whose domineering father, the shrewd deputy-financier Paul Guirand, plans a marriage of convenience with the Marquis de Courcieux while she harbors a sincere, long-nurtured affection for her childhood friend Jean Montchanin. The story sets love and integrity against ambition, social calculation, and political maneuvering under the glittering light of the Riviera. The opening of the novel presents Guirand’s character—an eloquent, self-styled “experimental” republican whose ambition overrides scruple—and shows him bluntly decreeing his daughter’s marriage to Courcieux. We meet Benjamine’s moral anchor, her discreet and upright governess Mlle Berthe Lireux, and her mother Céleste, a sentimental but compliant social climber who urges submission and even quotes Shakespeare to lecture her on kisses. A backstory explains how the late marquise of Courcieux and Guirand quietly laid the groundwork for this alliance, prompting Courcieux to leave the navy to fulfill his mother’s wish. Benjamine struggles to name her feelings, while Jean—an industrious young official shaped by cool, utilitarian maxims—arrives unexpectedly, confesses his love, and, daunted by the imposed match, resolves to withdraw. A single “farewell” kiss binds them emotionally, and the section closes with Benjamine inwardly fixed on the conviction that she can belong to no one else.
