"The Ball at Sceaux" by Honoré de Balzac is a novella published in 1830. Émilie de Fontaine has rejected countless suitors, dismissing them for lacking noble titles. When a mysterious young man appears at a village dance, she finally falls in love. But her aristocratic pride is shattered when she discovers his shocking secret profession. Years later, a twist of fate reveals what her snobbery cost her—a cautionary tale about vanity and misplaced values. (This is an automatically generated summary.)