rgeois 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 (after fishing in the troubled waters of
political intrigue) has quite recently been made a peer of France and a
count. As yet our friend does not venture to bear his honors; his wife
merely puts 'La Comtesse du Bruel' on her cards. The sometime
playwright has the Order of Leopold, the Order of Isabella, the cross of
Saint-Vladimir, second class, the Order of Civil Merit of Bavaria,
the Papal Order of the Golden Spur,--all the lesser orders, in short,
besides the Grand Cross.

"Three months ago Claudine drove to La Palferine's door in her splendid
carriage with its armorial bearings. Du Bruel's grandfather was a farmer
of taxes ennobled towards the end of Louis Quatorze's reign. Cherin
composed his coat-of-arms for him, so the Count's coronet looks not
amiss above a scutcheon innocent of Imperial absurdities. In this
way, in the short space of three years, Claudine had carried out the
programme laid down for her by the charming, light-hearted La Palferine.

"One day, just above a month ago, she climbed the miserable staircase to
her lover's lodging; climbed in her glory, dressed like a real count