"I want revenge and get married right away, with anyone, but I won't be humiliated by him" is the whimsical decision Chantal Angeville makes to get revenge on her fiancé Lucien, whom she hasn't heard from in a long time.
And Chantal Angeville will marry Miche]. Lancey, out of spite, so as not to lose face.
She will confess to her husband, on the wedding night, that she does not love him; she acted to take revenge on the one who made him suffer and to have the joy of telling her ex-fiancé about her marriage before hers.
Michel will not see in this confession that his suffering, his ordeal, will stop, he will, suffering from poliomyelitis, succeed, by his courage and his will, in overcoming the terrible disease. But love, long flouted, will raise the glove.