A Mesalliance

"A Mesalliance" is a short story by Guy de Maupassant that explores themes of class disparity and social conventions through the lens of a romantic entanglement. The narrative follows the encounter between a wealthy young woman and a lower-class man, highlighting the tensions and misunderstandings that arise from their disparate backgrounds. As their relationship unfolds, Maupassant delves into the complexities of love, attraction, and societal expectations, ultimately revealing the constraints that social class imposes on personal desires. The story is marked by Maupassant's characteristic irony and keen psychological insight, making it a poignant commentary on the nature of relationships in a stratified society.

• Short story

								
It is a generally acknowledged truth, that the prerogatives of the
nobility are only maintained at the present time through the weakness of
the middle classes, and many of these who have established themselves
and their families by their intellect, industry and struggles, get into
a state of bliss, which reminds those who see it, of intoxication, as
soon as they are permitted to enter aristocratic circles, or can be seen
in public with barons and counts; and above all, when these treat them
in a friendly manner, no matter from what motive, or when they see a
prospect of a daughter of theirs driving in a carriage with armorial
bearings on the panels, as a countess.

Many women and girls of the citizen class would not hesitate for a
moment to refuse an honorable, good-looking man of their own class, in
order to go to the altar with the oldest, ugliest and stupidest dotard
among the aristocracy.

I shall never forget saying in a joke to a young, well-educated girl of
a wealthy, middle-class family, who had the figure and bearing of a
queen, shortly before her marriage, not to forget an ermine cloak in her
trousseau.

"I know it would suit me capitally," she replied in all seriousness,
"and I should certainly have worn one, if I had married Baron R----,
which I was nearly doing, as you know, but it is not suitable for the
wife of a government official."

When a girl of the middle classes wanders from the paths of virtue, her
fall may, as a rule, be rightly ascribed to her hankering after the
nobility.

In a small German town there lived, some years ago, a tailor, whom we
will call Löwenfuss, a man who, like all knights of the shears, was
equally full of aspirations after culture and liberty. After working for
one master for some time as a poor journeyman, he married his daughter,
and after his father-in-law's death, he succeeded to his business, and
as he was industrious, lucky and managed it well, he soon grew very well
off, and was in a position to give his daughters an education, for which
many a nobleman's daughters might have envied them; for they learned,
not only French and music, but had also acquired many more solid
branches of knowledge, and as they were both pretty and charming girls,
they soon became very much thought of and sought after.

Fanny, the eldest, especially, was her father's pride and the favorite
of society; she was of middle height, slim, with a thoroughly maidenly
figure, and with almost an Italian face, in which two large, dark eyes
seemed to ask for love and submission at the same time; and yet the girl
with the plentiful, black hair was not in the least intended to command,
for she was one of those romantic women who will give themselves, or
even throw themselves, away, but who can never be subjugated. A young
physician fell in love with her, and wished to marry her; Fanny returned
his love, and her parents gladly accepted him as a son-in-law, but she
made it a condition that he should visit her freely and frequently for
two years, before she would consent to become his wife, and she declared
that she would not go to the altar with him, until she was convinced
that not only their hearts, but also that their characters harmonized.
He agreed to her wish, and became a regular visitor at the house of the
educated tailor; they were happy hours for the lovers; they played, sang
and read together, and he told the girl some things from his medical
experiences, which excited and moved her.

Just then, one day an officer went to the tailor's house, to order some
civilian's clothes. This was not an unusual event in itself, but it was
soon to be the cause of one; for accidentally the daughter of the
artist in clothes came into the shop, just as the officer was leaving
it, and on seeing her, he let go of the door-handle, and asked the
tailor who the young lady was.

"My daughter," the tailor said, proudly.

"May I beg you to introduce me to the young lady, Herr Löwenfuss?" the
hussar said.

"I feel flattered at the honor you are doing me," the tailor replied,
with evident pleasure.

"Fanny, the Captain wishes to make your acquaintance; this is my
daughter, Fanny, Captain ..."

"Captain Count Kasimir W----," the hussar interrupted him, as he went up
to the pretty girl, and paid her a compliment or two. They were very
commonplace, stale, everyday phrases, but in spite of this, they
flattered the girl, intelligent as she was, extremely, because it was a
cavalry officer and a Count to boot who addressed them to her. And when,
at last, the Captain, in the most friendly manner, asked the tailor's
permission to be allowed to visit at the house, both father and daughter
granted it to him most readily.

The very next day Count W---- paid his visit, in full dress uniform, and
when Mamma Löwenfuss made some observations about it, how handsome it
was, and how well it became him, he told them that he should not wear it
much longer, as he intended to quit the service soon, and to look for a
wife, in whom birth and wealth were matters of secondary consideration,
while a good education and a knowledge of domestic matters were of
paramount importance; adding that as soon as he had found one, he meant
to retire to his estates.

From that moment, Papa and Mamma Löwenfuss looked upon the Count as
their daughter's suitor; it is certain that he was madly in love with
Fanny; he used to go to their house every evening, and made himself so
liked by all of them, that the young doctor soon felt himself to be
superfluous, and so his visits became rarer and rarer. The Count
confessed his love to Fanny on a moonlight night, while they were
sitting in an arbor covered with honeysuckle, which formed nearly the
whole of Herr Löwenfuss' garden; he swore that he loved, that he adored
her, and when at last she lay trembling in his arms he tried to take her
by storm, but that bold cavalry-exploit did not succeed, and the
good-looking hussar found out, for the first time in his life, that a
woman can at the same time be romantic, passionately in love, and yet
virtuous.

The next morning, the tailor called on the Count, and begged him very
humbly to state what his intentions with regard to Fanny were. The
enamored hussar declared that he was determined to make the tailor's
little daughter, Countess W----. Herr Löwenfuss was so much overcome by
his feelings, that he showed great inclination to embrace his future
son-in-law, The Count, however, laid down certain conditions. The whole
matter must be kept a profound secret, for he had every prospect of
inheriting half a million of florins, on the death of an aunt, who was
already eighty years old, which he should risk by a mesalliance.

When they heard this, the girl's parents certainly hesitated for a time,
to give their consent to the marriage, but the handsome hussar, whose
ardent passion carried Fanny away, at last gained the victory. The
doctor received a pretty little note from the tailor's daughter, in

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