Wikipedia page about this book: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nantas_(nouvelle)

Release date is 2007-06-26

Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net/

"Nantas" by Émile Zola is a novella published in 1879. A destitute young man from Marseille arrives in Paris seeking fortune but finds only poverty and despair. On the brink of suicide, he receives an unexpected proposal: marry a pregnant aristocrat to save her reputation. He accepts, gaining wealth and status through his father-in-law's support. Yet despite his success, Nantas remains tormented by unrequited love for his wife, who seems indifferent to him while pursuing another man. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Original publication data not identified