Le Cocu (Novels of Paul de Kock Volume XVIII)

The narrative follows a sequence of social scenes in which a narrator moves among salons, family gatherings, and domestic encounters to trace rumors of marital infidelity, jealous suspicions, and comic misunderstandings. Through vivid depictions of drawing-room conversation, amateur music, and matchmaking maneuvers, it sketches the manners and petty vanities of middle-class society, alternately teasing and sympathizing with characters caught between desire, pride, and self-deception. Episodes accumulate into a light, episodic narrative that balances farce, sentiment, and social observation while resolving tensions through reconciliation and clarified appearances.