Cover -- Copyright Page -- Title Page -- Contents -- Introduction -- Note on the Text -- Select Bibliography -- A Chronology of HonorÉ De Balzac -- Map -- COUSIN BETTE -- 1. Where will love find a niche? -- 2. From father-in-law to mother-in-law -- 3. Josépha -- 4. The perfumer's sudden access of pity -- 5. The way to arrange a marriage for a beautiful girl with no money -- 6. The Captain loses the battle -- 7. A woman's fine life-story -- 8. Hortense -- 9. Character sketch of an old maid -- 10. Bette's admirer -- 11. Conversation between an old maid and a young one -- 12. Monsieur le Baron Hector Hulot d'Ervy -- 13. The Louvre -- 14. In which one can see that pretty women cross the libertine's path, just as dupes put themselves in the way of scoundrels -- 15. The Marneffe household -- 16. The artist's attic -- 17. An exile's story -- 18. The adventure of a spider who finds in her web a beautiful fly that is too big for her. -- 19. How couples separate in the thirteenth district -- 20. One woman lost, one woman found -- 21. The daughter's romance -- 22. Let girls have their way -- 23. An interview -- 24. In which chance, which often brings about true romances, makes things go so well that they cannot continue like that for long -- 25. Marneffe's strategy -- 26. A terrible indiscretion -- 27. Final secrets -- 28. Bette's transformation -- 29. The life and opinions of Monsieur Crevel -- 30. A continuation of the preceding chapter -- 31. Caliban's last attempt to keep Ariel -- 32. Failed revenge -- 33. The way many marriage contracts are made -- 34. A magnificent example of a devoted follower -- 35. In which the tail-end of an ordinary novel comes in the middle of this story which is only too close to reality, touches on the amatory, and is frighteningly moral. -- 36. The two brides -- 37. Moral reflections on immorality.

38. In which we can see the result of Crevel's opinions -- 39. Handsome Hulot dismantled -- 40. One of the seven plagues of Paris -- 41. Cousin Bette's hopes -- 42. The extremities to which libertines reduce their legitimate wives -- 43. The grieving family -- 44. The dinner -- 45. Back from the dead with afortune -- 46. The age at which a ladies' man becomes jealous -- 47. First scene of clever feminine play-acting -- 48. A scene befitting a porter's lodge -- 49. Second scene of clever feminine play-acting -- 50. Crevel takes his revenge -- 51. Master Crevel's little house -- 52. Two brothers-in-arms -- 53. Two crazy fanatics -- 54. Another view of a legitimately married couple -- 55. What makes great artists -- 56. Effect of the honeymoon on the arts -- 57. Of sculpture -- 58. In which can he seen the power of that socially disruptive force, poverty. -- 59. Reflections on beauty spots -- 60. A fine entrance -- 61. On Poles in general and on Steinbock in particular -- 62. Commentary on the story of Delilah -- 63. He is young, Polish, and an artist. What do you expect him to do? -- 64. The return home -- 65. The first dagger-blow -- 66. The first quarrel of married life -- 67. A suspicion always follows the first dagger-blow -- 68. The discovery of a child -- 69. A second father for the Marneffe child -- 70. The difference between mother and daughter -- 71. A third father for the Marneffe child -- 72. The five Fathers of the Marneffe Church -- 73. Exploitation of the father -- 74. A sad happiness -- 75. The ravages caused by women like Madame Marneffe in the bosoms of families -- 76. A brief history of favourites -- 77. The impudence of one of the five fathers -- 78. Another summons -- 79. The door shut in his face -- 80. An awakening -- 81. The cards are reshuffled -- 82. A surgical operation -- 83. Moral reflections -- 84. Fructus belli.

the outcome depends on the Minister for War -- 85. Another disaster -- 86. A different style of dressing -- 87. A sublime courtesan -- 88. Crevel pontificates -- 89. In which the false courtesan arises a saint -- 90. Another guitar* -- 91. A picture of Marshal Hulot -- 92. The Prince's dressing-down -- 93. A very short encounter between Marshal Hulot, Comte de Forzheim, and his Excellency, Monseigneur le Maréchal Cottin, Prince de Wissembourg, Due d'Orfano, Minister of War. -- 94. A theory about press reports -- 95. The brother's dressing-down -- 96. A fine funeral -- 97. Departure of the prodigal father -- 98. In which Josépha reappears -- 99. A peg to hang on -- 100. The Marshal's legacy -- 101. Great changes -- 102.The sword of Damocles -- 103. Baron Hulot's friend -- 104. Vice and Virtue -- 105. Liquidation of the firm of Thoul and Bijou -- 106. The angel and the devil hunt in company -- 107. Another devil -- 108. The police -- 109. Change from Père Thoul to Père Thorec -- 110. A family scene -- 111. Another family scene -- 112. The effects of blackmail -- 113. Combabus -- 114. A courtesan's dinner-party -- 115. In which Madame Nourrisson is seen at work -- 116. A little house in 1840 -- 117. The last scene of clever feminine play-acting -- 118. Vengeance strikes Valérie -- 119 The mendicant -- 120. Doctor's comments -- 121. The hand of God and the Brazilian's too -- 122. Valérie's last bon mot -- 123. Crevel's last words -- 124. One aspect of speculation -- 125. In which we are not told why all the stove-fitters of Paris are Italians -- 126. A second Atala, quite as much of a savage as the first one,* but not as good a Catholic -- 127. The preceding chapter continued -- 128. Recognition -- 129. Atala's last word -- 130. Return of the prodigal father -- 131. In praise of forgetting -- 132. An appalling ending, but true to reality.

Appendix The Money Plot of Cousin Bette -- Explanatory Notes.