Le secrétaire intime

A young, impecunious nobleman walks toward Avignon seeking modest employment and endures fatigue and small humiliations along the way. At a roadside relay he is noticed and brusquely invited onto the carriage of a striking, imperious woman whose mixture of commanding manners and unexpected generosity both intrigues and unsettles him. She escorts him to the city, and his naive pride, romantic imagination, and curiosity about her social standing drive the unfolding encounters. Written as a fanciful, episodic tale, the narrative mixes romantic reverie, social contrast, and playful fantasy, an early experiment the author later called an inexperienced fantasia.