How I found Gertrude Tennant -- Born into a long line of heroes -- Early adventures -- Arrival in Paris -- Unsentimental education -- Gertrude meets her future husband -- Gertrude enters society -- The marriage market -- Phantoms of Trouville -- At home with the Flauberts -- An improbable romance -- Portrait of a marriage -- Charles's Angel in the house? -- Births and deaths -- Rita and Emma: two literary heroines -- Les Misérables -- Moving up in the world -- Gertrude's dark night of the soul -- Re-entering the marriage market -- Reunited with an old flame -- En eligible match -- The delicious dolly -- A salon in Whitehall -- Bula Matari in the drawing-room -- Dolly's choices -- Quel bel avenir? -- 'Whom shall I meet in heaven?'