Publisher's Synopsis
In Enval, Auvergne, Dr. Bonnefille discovered a spring that he named after him. With the help of a few local businessmen, a large house was built in the centre of the valley where bathers come to relieve their various ills.William Andermatt, a very wealthy fat and bald banker, and his wife Christiane, a 21-year-old blond girl, have been living in Enval for two years because she is expecting a child and the couple hopes that the thermal waters will solve this sterility problem. Christiane married her husband not out of love but to help her brother Gontran de Ravenel to pay off his debts. Initially reluctant for his daughter to marry a Jewish banker, the Catholic Marquis de Ravenel finally accepted, seeing Mr. Andermatt's high income on the one hand and also thanks to the influence of a friend on the other, Mrs. Icardon, who eventually made him understand that Jews should not be persecuted.Several facilities have been built in Enval to entertain the fifty or so bathers who regularly come to the thermal waters of Bonnefille for treatment: 3 hotels, including the Splendid Hotel where the Marquis de Ravenel lives, and a casino. In Enval live 3 doctors: Doctor Lattone who has no affinity with Doctor Bonnefille and Doctor Honorat, a doctor from the Oriol family, who gets along well with the other two doctors. Father Oriol, the richest peasant in the region who owns the Enval vineyards, has been promising for 10 years that he will blow up the great dull, a huge stone that hinders cultivation and shades a large part of the field. Hundreds of people came to watch the destruction of the Great Morne. It was then that an important discovery was made: a mineral water spring was located in the very place where the rock had been lying.William Andermatt saw this as a godsend and decided to build a spa to compete with Dr. Bonnefille's. He therefore went to Father Oriol, who owned the land surrounding the spring, to ask him to sell it to him, hoping that the water would be good for thermal cures.Father Oriol asks Clovis, who is paralyzed in both legs, to take a bath every day for a month in the recently discovered spring to test its effects on the body. Mr. Andermatt agrees with this idea but, too busy with the fact that Mr. Oriol has still not signed the promise to sell, does not realize that his wife is getting closer to Paul Bretigny.William Andermatt then decided to organize a charity event to get to know the Oriol family better and get closer to them, and the event went well and we discovered the Oriol girls, Louise and Charlotte, who charmed the audience. Only Mr. Bretigny remains insensitive to them because he has eyes only for Christiane who discovers her knowledge and sensitivity. Christiane takes baths every morning and befriends the Oriol girls. Her husband being on a business trip to Paris, she is gradually getting closer to Mr. Bretigny who is a gentle and caring man. Love feelings arise between them.When Mr. Andermatt returns from Paris, Christiane refuses to let him touch her and she lies to him, telling him that she is pregnant with him. Nevertheless, she is afraid of her feelings towards Paul Bretigny and keeps her distance from him. Andermatt, still busy with his business, discovers that Clovis can walk again and buys the land from Father Oriol to build an establishment, a casino and a hotel. Wanting to create a board of directors with reliable people, he gave shares to Gontran, the Marquis and Paul Bretigny and left for Paris to continue his business.Taking advantage of her husband's absence, Christiane lives an intense passion with Paul Bretigny. However, William Andermatt returned from Paris and created his company, which he named Mont-Oriol. Christiane has to leave with her husband and must separate from her lover by promising to see him again....
