"There are certain movements that are so [...] heavy that they are as tell-tale as a register of birth" (5).

"The concierges of Paris have sharp eyes; they do not stop visitors who wear an order, have a blue uniform, and walk ponderously; in short, they know a rich man when they see one" (6).

"[As] she entered the card-room, her face was hidden behind the impenetrable reserve which every woman, even the most candid, seems to have at her command" (8).

"Virtue is always a little too rigid; it overlooks the shades and instincts by help of which we are able to tack when in a false position" (22).

"From the first days of her married life to the present time, the Baroness had loved her husband, as Josephine in the end had loved Napoleon, with an admiring, maternal, and cowardly devotion" (25).

"Two reprobate hussies had been the priestesses of this union...