Being on a total ‘minor ladies of Les Mis’ kick right now, I found myself reading the Favourite parts again, and I noticed this little detail (bolding mine, obviously):
Favourite having been in England, was admired by Dahlia and Zephine. She had had an establishment of her own very early in life. Her father was an old unmarried professor of mathematics, a brutal man and a braggart, who went out to give lessons in spite of his age. This professor, when he was a young man, had one day seen a chambermaid’s gown catch on a fender; he had fallen in love in consequence of this accident. The result had been Favourite.
And onto our beloved (ha) Felix Tholomyes, caught mid-ramble:
The property of love is to err. A love affair is not made to crouch down and brutalize itself like an English serving-maid who has callouses on her knees from scrubbing.
Tholomyes, you just insulted Favourite’s mother in front of her, didn’t you? You dick.