We may here anticipate events to explain that the persévérance (which rhymes, in the following line with espérance ) shown by Mme. de Villebon in snubbing Mme. G⁠⸺ was not entirely wasted. In the eyes of Mme. G⁠⸺ it invested Mme. de Villebon with a distinction so supreme, though purely imaginary, that when the time came for Mme. G⁠⸺’s daughter, who was the prettiest girl and the greatest heiress in the ballrooms of that season, to marry, people were astonished to see her refuse all the Dukes in succession. The fact was that her mother, remembering the weekly humiliations she had had to endure in the Rue de Grenelle on account of Châteaudun could think of only one possible husband for her daughter⁠—a Villebon son.