"She turned to me. 'Do you suppose,' she said scornfully, 'that a
Count would have uttered such an insult even if the thought had
entered his mind? For my misfortune I have lived with dukes,
ambassadors, and great lords, and I know their ways. How intolerable
it makes bourgeois life! After all, a playwright is not a Rastignac
nor a Rhetore----'

"Du Bruel looked ghastly at this. Two days afterwards we met in the
_foyer_ at the Opera, and took a few turns together. The conversation
fell on Tullia.

"'Do not take my ravings on the boulevard too seriously,' said he; 'I
have a violent temper.'

"For two winters I was a tolerably frequent visitor at du Bruel's
house, and I followed Claudine's tactics closely. She had a splendid
carriage. Du Bruel entered public life; she made him abjure his
Royalist opinions. He rallied himself; he took his place again in the
administration; the National Guard was discreetly canvassed, du Bruel
was elected major, and behaved so valorously in a street riot, that he
was decorated with the rosette of an officer of the Legion of Honor.
He was appointed Master of Requests and head of a department. Uncle
Chaffaroux died and left his niece forty thousand francs per annum,
three-fourths of his fortune. Du Bruel became a deputy; but
beforehand, to save the necessity of re-election, he secured his
nomination to the Council of State. He reprinted divers archaeological
treatises, a couple of political pamphlets, and a statistical work, by
way of pretext for his appointment to one of the obliging academies of
the Institut. At this moment he is a Commander of the Legion, and