His Excellency the Minister

ay at homes, except when by chance, Denis Ramel permitted himself to abandon the Batignolles to call at

lf in Rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin, she had not had time to form acquaintances among the wives of the deputies

k the same hackneyed tone, disgusting in its flattery or disquieting by reason of its allusions. People discussed coming interpellations of ministers; government majorities, projected legislation; the same phrases, as dreary as showers

therein, hers should also be. She had, however, formerly dreamed of an entirely different youth and on bright, sunshi

ace Beauvau. This woman who hardly concerned herself at all about her son, allowing him to grow up badly enough and committing all her maternal duties to the grandmother, was perpetually cheerful, notwithstanding that her life had been chequered by chance and he

nt. She still smacks of Dauphiny. And then-what is

elf about it," said the pretty

wife faultlessly. Ah! if only Sabine or Blanche Gerson occupied the position filled by thi

matters, in such a way as to convey reproof under the guise of kindness. Madame Vaudrey would have done

ests, when the minister received or gave a ball, Sabine Marsy, who had suffered from the mania of aspiring to become an artist, patronized the intransigeant painters and exhibited at the

rinds out more fashionable lives than the King of Dahomey offers as victims on his great feast days. For Blanche, everything in this most stimulated, over-excited, feverishly deranged life, was reduced to these two inevitable conclusions: what was chic and what was not chic. Not only was this the inevitable guide in reference to style, clothing

was that all this woman's conversation-and she often came to see Madame Vaudrey,-was on well-known topics; so that Adrienne knew in advance what Blanche's opinion was upon such and such a

er, on Grand Prix day; if she had not been the first at the varnishing; the first at the general rehearsals, a little chic,-the first everywhere. Slender, delicate, but hardy as a Parisian, she dragged her exhausted husband, with her hand of fine steel, through receptions, balls, soirées, salons, talking loudly, judging everything, chattering, cackling and haran

and Mada

s wife, left her in order to take a doze on an armchair during the height of the ball, woke in haste, returned home in haste, slept hurriedly, rose the same, dragging this indefatigable creature about

ent none too soon, when the summer arrived, to breathe the sea air or enjoy the sunshine of the country, in order to restore

I like my home!" th

s, were the most assiduous in their attentions to Adrienne, whom they considered decidedly provincial. She, stupefied,

ndred times prettier than Madame Gerson, whose beauty was so highly extolled in the journals,-this minister's wife, who voluntarily kept hers

me, they upset me,

amuse themselves so much that they have not even time to smile. When t

ac's wit pleased her. He surprised her somewhat at times, but the probably assumed raillery of th

licate and sensitive nature, entirely swayed by love of Sulpice, that suffered at times a vague pressure as of so

ions save dust and cracks. These salons, built for the Maréchal de Beauvau, these walls that had listened to the sobs of Madame d'Houdetot at the death-bed of Saint-Lambert, appeared

, she wandered through, but evidently without expecting any one: state chairs lacking occupants,-ordinary chairs, domestic chairs seem to have tongues-that never exchanged conversat

ed upstairs, bent over his table crowded with papers, before his open window. Ah! those cherished rooms, in the humble corner of the provincial home, their happy crouching in the peaceful nest; aye, even the happy first days in Paris, in the Chaussée-d'Antin apartments, in which Adr

removed from this life of slavery, of feverish politics, which for some time past had bee

e said with a sweet smile, "I could

have only one r

me! be great, and I shall be happy or resigned, as you wish. I adore you so mu

ly taught. She found that her desserts vanished with frightful rapidity, that dishes scarcely touched and bottles whose contents had only been tasted, w

ing in that, Monsieur Pichereau had a delicate stomach. Well and good, but the predecessors of Monsieur Pichereau, they ha

ne of the domestics of th

s spend! It is the electors' money. They give

d her with dislike for the flunkeyism that surrounded her, waiting on her with cold civility, but without an

ith mathematical exactitude how many angles the human form would describe in the process of bowing and scraping. In his department, everybody asked for something or got someone else to ask. Promotion, that

ters rained on him. This shower of begging-missives nauseated the minister to such an extent that he endeavored to arrest the stream, ordering Warcolier, the Under Secretary of State, to be called and requesting him to reply to the deputi

decorated his rosy cheeks, he remarked doctorally, that Monsieur le Ministre was entering on a path that, in all conscience, he could qualify as being only dangerous. Eh! bon Dieu! one must do someth

eforms and I am going to carry them out, but p

ied Warcolier, "

le staff of employés to give place to a new one. That's precisely what they

stre, seeing that there is not a deput

truth, it is not the rights of those who have elected t

ld, wrote me, asking for a good nurse. That is like one of our colleagues, Perraud-of the Vosges.-One of his electors commissioned h

ore morality than that in State affairs. I like

ay that it is clearly proved that such and such a future minister can make himself more us

ead, to cry quits later in giving more dry crusts tha

re, as you please," answered Warco

was desired. This little underhand work going on in his office was unknown to Vaudrey; he did not know that out of every refusal he gave, Warcolier secured friends; but he maintained a watchful distrust for this republican who had become so stanch a supporter of the Republic only since that form of government had triumphed. Besides, what had he to fear? The President of the Council, Monsieur Collard, of Nantes, had the unbounded

e suddenly found himself in the presence of the only woman who could possibly understand him, and in the only world

man!-as of old. He sometimes recalled with tearful eye, how his whole frame trembled with love in the presence of that young girl who had given herself entirely to him, in all her trust and sincerity, in all her candor, and all her chastely-timid innocent modesty. But Adrienne's love was insipid compared with the intoxicating and appetizing voluptuousness of th

s man of forty felt all the enthusiasm and distraction of a youth. It seemed to him that this was the only woman that he possibly could love, and in truth she was the only one th

g manner full of doubt, which conveyed the delicacy of the woman's self-lo

es

ly t

rld of tenderness, excitement a

drew her

head between her shoulders that emerged from her embroidered chemise,

rianne and to tell her again and again that nothing in the whole world could take the place of this mistress who made him for

r, and which she had apparently-in reality she took them from her own funds-borrowed from Adolphe Gochard, her lover, who had not a sou, and in whose favor Vaudrey signed in regular legal

nce to Gochard is for

t if I lose the balance? If

do you

s have happened

elt the extreme joy arising from the base self-love of the man who p

distracted with joy. There, in the closed chamber he remained with Marianne, who was full of pride at the complete subjugation of the will of this man in her embrace. She am

k, it is funny: 'Ordinary toilet. The etiquette for the toilet is not very strict, but it is, however, in good

t naked in Sulpice's arms, and

ple to

you leave the salon, you should again bow respectfully.' That is amusing, ah! how amusing it is!-Then they respect you as much as that? Your Excellency! Monseigneur! Shall I be obliged t

d just forgotten that there existed anything else in the world besides that apartment, warm with perfumes. He would have liked to pass the whole night beside her, separating only when satiated and overwhelmed with caresses. But how could h

ptions and night sessions that de

ns grow more frequent than formerly,"

lpice. "In order to reach the vacation

sorbed him. One day, however, he allowed the journals to be brought into the salon and to lie about in Madame's room. He informed Adrienne that he was going to pass the day in Pica

g time!" sa

e than for you, since you

home: in Chaussée-d'Antin, or

y, as he embraced her ten

avas agency, a message which ran: The Minister of the Interior passed the entire day yesterday at Guise, at Monsieur Delair's, the de

ews to Adrienne, and

le step without it appears in print and t

m with her glance. "Are you tired? You look pale. How did

y well how similar all these gatherings were, with their official routine. Monsieur Delair had

emed very l

e also,"

her side undisturbed for a long time, and the telegraph, managed by the Director of the Press, enabled him to prove an alibi to Adrienne from time to time. He had taken

flowers in the Japanese vases and said to

You though

roseate dawn, or taking a cab, he stretched himself out wearily therein, as he drove to the ministry, musing over the hours so recently passed and striving to

It seemed that he was permeated with her perfume. He breathed the air with wide-open nostrils to inhale it again, to recover its scent and preserve it. His whole frame tr

eir necks and swinging on their arms the supply of food for the day, or again with their fingers numb with the cold, holding some journal in their hands in which they read as they marched along, the speech of "Monsieur le Ministre de l'Intérieur," that magnificent speech not made during the night sessi

om my nights, I

ibune; he again experienced a feeling of pride, and yet he felt dissatisfied with himself now that he saw the other hands, t

, busy, weary, and still,-eternally,-as if immovably fixed in an antechamber of

hing better than to make tools, to sow the seed of his clientage. Guy de Lissac and Ramel had simultan

ou, is this gentleman who pref

ine you quietly

m not disturbed: I have the majo

changes," m

was neglecting Adrienne. Political business, doubtless. Vaudrey unquestionably love

ration that Adrienne had just read in the Gazette Tribunaux. It referred to an adulterous husband, a pottery dealer in Rue Paradis, Monsieur Vauthier,

aid. "She must have

did no

hat were my case, I co

What are you

you could kiss her as you kiss me, that would make me more than ang

used to do," said Vaudrey. "Not another paper shall enter

ed to read it. And then this very mournful title: Separation de corps. I would p

repeated Sulpice, wh

ould then change the topic. But Adrienne, who was much affected by her reading, ret

o! Never fear, madame, your husband will never p

ed. "I am in favor of divor

part, how a woman can belong to

sting law, in fact, seeing that it admits separation, permits divorce, but more cruel,

oner or later, we shall certainly

es it matter to me?

not interested, neither my husband nor I; he loves me and I love him. I am as sure of him as he is sure of me. He

ghted to be released from the magnetic i

t pricking of conscience. He thought of Marianne. His passion increased tenfold, but this very increase of affection made him afraid. He ha

fe, the dear abandoned, disdained creature, sad without being cognizant of the cause of her melancholy, terrified by the emptiness of that grand ministerial mansion, that "

had frequently said. "It would divert your mind and

er that she might see the sunlight penetrate the room and set all the motes dancing in its cheerful rays. She shut herself in and remained there happy, consoled; sitting in the armchair formerly occupied by Sulpice, she pictured him at the table at which he used to work, his inkstand before him and surrounded by his books, his cherished

pularity! Fame! Authori

lling, where the cup of bliss would have been full if the wif

e to politics, while here he only experienced peace, consoling caresses and the quieting of every excitem

ndkerchief with her warm breath, in order to wipe her eyes so that Sulpice might not see that she had been weeping. Then when her well-known carriage passed before

h! she has had a glorio