Franz knew his wife didn’t care whether the pendant was ugly or not. An object was ugly if she willed it ugly, beautiful if she willed it beautiful. Pendants worn by her friends were a priori beautiful. And even if she did find them ugly, she would never say so, because flattery had long since become second nature to her. Why, then, did she decide that the pendant Sabina had made herself was ugly? Franz suddenly saw the answer plainly: Marie-Claude proclaimed Sabina’s pendant ugly because she could afford to do so. Or to be more precise: Marie-Claude proclaimed Sabina’s pendant ugly to make it
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