After a few friendly words of greeting, Marie-Claude lifted the ceramic pendant from Sabina's neck and said in a very loud voice, "What is that? How ugly!"
Those words made a deep impression on Franz. They were not meant to be combative; the raucous laughter immediately following them made it clear that by rejecting the pendant Marie-Claude did not wish to jeopardize her friendship with Sabina. But it was not the kind of thing she usually said.
"I made it myself", said Sabina.
"That pendant is ugly, really!" Marie-Claude repeated very loudly. "You shouldn't wear it."
Franz knew his wife didn't care whether the pendant was ugly or not. An object was ugly if she willed it ugly, beautiful if she will it beautiful. Pendants worn by her friends were a priori beautiful. And even if she did not find them ugly, she would never say so, because flattery had long since become second nature to her.
Why, then, did she decide that the pendant Sabina made herself was ugly?
Franz suddenly saw the answer plainly: Marie-Claude proclaimed Sabina's pendant ugly because she could afford to do so.
Or to be more precise: Marie-Claude proclaimed Sabina's pendant ugly to make it clear that she could afford to tell Sabina her pendant was ugly.
-P.108-109, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
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