Zibeline — Volume 2

Amid Haussmann’s sweeping redesign of Paris, the elegant Hotel de Montgeron remains a rare sanctuary in the newly cut Rue St. Dominique. Its owner, a senator‑duke, combines aristocratic bearing with a sincere concern for the displaced working class. He finds a kindred spirit in Mademoiselle de Prerolles, and together they gather nobles, fashion icons, and theatre personalities. Their salons buzz with both intrigue and the pressing question of how to aid the city’s forgotten laborers.

At a meeting in the duchess’s salon, the Industrial Orphan Asylum is proposed to shelter and educate children of injured or deceased laborers. The committee, led by the diligent churchwarden Desvanneaux and supported by fashionable ladies such as Madame de Lisieux, debates the steep construction costs. They plan a grand fête at the Palais de l’Industrie, enlisting actors and singers to draw crowds and raise the necessary funds. The lively debate reveals both hope for the children and the practical tensions of philanthropy in a rapidly modernizing Paris.