Résumé
This volume includes a group of stories collectively titled Les Rivalités ("Rivalries").
The stories within Les Rivalités are La Vieille Fille ("The Old Maid") and Le Cabinet des Antiques ("The Collection of Antiquities").
La Vieille Fille is set in a small provincial town and follows a wealthy, 42-year-old spinster, Rose-Marie Cormon, who is desperate to marry.
The story revolves around two rivals—a destitute royalist and a wealthy liberal—vying for her hand, and more importantly, her fortune.