h envied, but very difficult and even perilous. I owe it to
you somewhat, since it came to me through the powerful influence of your
father."

He consulted her on the choice of a Chief of Cabinet.

She advised him as best she could. She thought he was sensible, calm,
and not sillier than many others.

He lost himself in reflections.

"I have to defend before the Senate the budget voted by the Chamber of
Deputies. The budget contains innovations which I did not approve. When
I was a deputy I fought against them. Now that I am a minister I must
support them. I saw things from the outside formerly. I see them from
the inside now, and their aspect is changed. And, then, I am free no
longer."

He sighed:

"Ah, if the people only knew the little that we can do when we are
powerful!"

He told her his impressions. Berthier was reserved. The others were
impenetrable. Loyer alone was excessively authoritative.

She listened to him without attention and without impatience. His pale
face and voice marked for her like a clock the minutes that passed with
intolerable slowness.

Loyer had odd sallies of wit. Immediately after he had declared his
strict adhesion to the Concordat, he said: "Bishops are spiritual
prefects. I will protect them since they belong to me. And through them
I shall hold the guardians of souls, curates."

He recalled to her that she would have to meet people who were not of
her class and who would shock her by their vulgarity. But his situation
demanded that he should not disdain anybody. At all events, he counted
on her tact and on her devotion.

She looked at him, a little astonished.

"There is no hurry, my dear. We shall see later."

He was tired. He said good-night and advised her to sleep. She was
ruining her health by reading all night. He left her.

She heard the noise of his footsteps, heavier than usual, while he
traversed the library, encumbered with blue books and journals, to reach
his room, where he would perhaps sleep. Then she felt the weight on her
of the night's silence. She looked at her watch. It was half-past one.

She said to herself: "He, too, is suffering. He looked at me with so
much despair and anger."

She was courageous and ardent. She was impatient at being a prisoner.
When daylight came, she would go, she would see him, she would explain
everything to him. It was so clear! In the painful monotony of her
thought, she listened to the rolling of wagons which at lon