“Amadeo supposed Hope Ballou was a kind friend to Hortense, and she seemed an intelligent woman, but he’d found her too talkative, too full of opinions and not respectful enough of her husband. She called the man ‘Rob,’ in company, for God’s sake.  He’d heard that Yankee women were like that.”

The Ballou Family emigrated to Touperdu from New York City. Robert, who speaks unaccented Parisian French, is a snob who, as Amadeo Roselyn observes in his diary “…has the arrogance of a Louisiana Creole, with none of the bonhomie.” Hope Ballou is more extroverted, cheerful — and ambitious. Both are united in their love for their only child, Theodore.