"For there is not a door, not a closet, not a drawer, not a bottle, not an article, that does not cry out to us: "Thief thief thief " And also the continuous vexation caused by that terrible inequality, that frightful disproportion in our destinies, which, in spite of familiarities, smiles, and presents, places between our mistresses and ourselves an impassable abyss, a whole world of sullen hatreds, suppressed desires, and future vengeances..."

A French chambermaid, who has served in Paris, in the houses of nobility, the bourgeois, and professional people, finally enters the service...