The Papin sisters case is recalled as a murder whose significance lies in the charged household relations surrounding it: the women who were killed are described through their vigilance about cleanliness and their hatred of their servants, the world, and each other.

The Household and Its Tensions

The passage evokes women determined to ensure that no dust remained on the furniture. This exacting concern for domestic cleanliness is set beside their hostility toward the servants who worked for them. The account thus places the crime within a household marked not only by unequal relations between employers and servants, but also by antagonism among the women themselves.

Recollection and Significance

The murders are mentioned retrospectively as having occurred several years earlier. No further circumstances, identities, or outcome are supplied here. Instead, the recollection draws attention to the entanglement of domestic order and hostility: the demand for immaculate furniture appears alongside hatred of servants, the surrounding world, and one another. The case enters the discussion as a brief but stark example of violence emerging from an atmosphere of layered household conflict.