,
as it were, carried away by such a dominating influence. Waking, he
found Marianne the basis of all his thoughts, as she was during his
slumber.

And so charming!

"Monsieur le Ministre de l'Interieur is the next to address the
Council."

Vaudrey had not noticed that Monsieur Collard--of Nantes--had finished
his harangue, and that after the Minister of Justice, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs had just concluded his remarks. Vaudrey, therefore,
needed a moment's reflection, a hasty self-examination to recognize his
own personality: _Monsieur le Ministre de l'Interieur!_ This title only
called up his _ego_ after a momentary reflection, a sort of simulated
astonishment under the cloak of a pensive attitude. Vaudrey's colleagues
did not perceive that this man seated beside them was, as it were, lost
in meditation.

Sulpice, moreover, had little to say. Nothing serious. The confirmation
of the favorable reports that had been made to him. Within a week he
would finish his plan of prefectorial changes. He simply required the
Council to deal at once with the nomination of the Undersecretaries of
State.

It was then that Vaudrey realized the extraordinary influence that
Lucien Granet must possess. From the very opening of the discussion, the
minister felt that his candidate, Jacquier--of l'Oise--was defeated in
advance by Warcolier. Granet must have laid siege to the ministers one
by one. The President was entirely in Warcolier's favor. Warcolier's
amiability, tact, the extraordinary facility with which he threw
overboard previous opinions, were so many claims in his favor. It was
necessary to give pledges to new converts, to prove that the government
was not closed against penitents.

"That is a very Christian theory," said Vaudrey, "and truly, I am
neither in favor of jacobinism nor suspicion, but there is something
ironical in granting this amnesty to turncoats."

"But it is decidedly politic," said Monsieur Collard--of Nantes.

"It is a premium offered to the new converts."

"Eh! eh! that is not so badly done!"

Vaudrey knew perfectly well that it was useless to insist, he must put
up with Warcolier. It was his task to manage matters so that this man
should not have unlimited power in the ministry.

Warcolier was elected and the President signed his appointment at the
earliest possible moment.

"A nomination discounted in advance," thought Vaudrey, who again
recalled Granet's polite but threatening smile.