IT IS MOST UNWISE AND FOOLISH TO ENDEAVOUR TO MANIPULATE HUMAN EMOTION FOR ONE'S ENDS'One May morning in 1842 in the village of Domblans, sisters Henriette, Renée and Gabrielle finally have something beyond embroidery to occupy them: the eligible bachelor Monsieur de Vaudrey is to visit their father's chateau. Yet as they compete for his affections, they learn that marriage and happiness do not always go hand in hand.Meanwhile, upon his wife's death, the Comte de Montbarrey finds himself free to marry the woman he loves, but haunted by the possibility that he may have been the Comtesse's killer. How can he atone for an act he does not remember, and for the sins of the idle life to which he was born?Steeped in wit, empathy and social critique, the two stories in this volume show popular late nineteenth-century author Marie-Louise Gagneur to be worthy of renewed attention.