The Memories of Countess Margherite

Armand pretends he had married Margherite to effortlessly climb many steps of the social ladder, to benefit his business and satisfy his pride with his new status. On his way from home to the Lucas Wineries, men passing him would raise their hats and the ladies would smile at him and bow slightly, but that wasn't enough to make him feel secure. Armand's life had been complicated and that makes him a man with too many memories. He knows that luck has assisted his audacity, but cannot forget the very many instances where destiny could have cast him aside. Margherite represents his opposite; she is the assuredness that he lacks, derived from the generations of noble Dupont Soleils that went before. This is the truth that Armand keeps to himself. Margherite entertains herself. She plays the aristocratic heroine, forced to marry a man as rich as he is rude, to save his family from disgrace. Her inner voice chokes with contempt. She refuses to confess her admiration for Armand, the little warrior, who fought in the open field of life, first in defense against the privileges of the idle nobility and then to protect her, and them, from the Jacobins. Margherite Dupont Soleil, now is the time for you to confess. You want to give yourself to Armand, to offer your submission and your humiliation, for being nothing else but a stupid useless Countess.