The Belle of Brittany

About the show

Babette is the only daughter of Poquelin, a prosperous miller, who holds the mortgage on the château and estate of the gay old Marquis de St. Gautier. Babette, according to the custom of her village, has been betrothed by her parents to Baptiste, a famous Paris chef, who is hourly expected to claim his bride. Facing the mill is a fine old tree known as the "Trysting Tree", to which is attached a curious legend. If man and maid meet beneath its branches and exchange vows of love at the moment the bells of a neighbouring convent chime, then a happy marriage may be expected. Had Baptiste arrived a little sooner it might have been his good fortune to have experienced that felicitous omen, but as it happens, it is young Raymond de St. Gautier, the son of a Marquis, who was the fortunate individual, and he and Babette fall in love at first sight. The old Marquis, however, has different views as to his son's matrimonial affairs. To relieve the estate from the heavy debts with which it is burdened it is necessary that Raymond should make a rich marriage, and to that end the Marquis is doing all in his power to bring about a union between Raymond and his wealthy ward, Mlle. Denise de la Vire. Denise also has a love affair to hand, with the Comte Victoire de Casserole, and she is determined that her fortune and her heart shall be placed in the same keeping. But there is a golden lining to the Marquis's cloud, and, as the old miller promises the mortgage deeds as Babette's dowry, the Marquis withdraws his objections, and the bells of Brittany give hearty and melodious salutation to the daffodil "belle".