n which the vast official ocean of a ministry was contained.
A wide landing separated its two bureaus, the doors of which were duly
labelled. The private offices and antechambers of the heads of the two
bureaus, Monsieur Rabourdin and Monsieur Baudoyer, were below on
the second floor, and beyond that of Monsieur Rabourdin were the
antechamber, salon, and two offices of Monsieur de la Billardiere.

On the first floor, divided in two by an entresol, were the living
rooms and office of Monsieur Ernest de la Briere, an occult and powerful
personage who must be described in a few words, for he well deserves
the parenthesis. This young man held, during the whole time that this
particular administration lasted, the position of private secretary
to the minister. His apartment was connected by a secret door with the
private office of his Excellency. A private secretary is to the minister
himself what des Lupeaulx was to the ministry at large. The same
difference existed between young La Briere and des Lupeaulx that there
is between an aide-de-camp and a chief of staff. This ministerial
apprentice decamps when his protector leaves office, returning sometimes
when he returns. If the minister enjoys the royal favor when he falls,
or still has parliamentary hopes, he takes his secretary with him into
retirement only to bring him back on his return; otherwise he puts him
to grass in some of the various administrative pastures,--for instance,
in the Court of Exchequer, that wayside refuge where private secretaries
wait for the storm to blow over. The young man is not precisely a
government official; he is a political character, however; and sometimes
his politics are limited to those of one man. When we think of the
number of letters it is the private secretary's fate to open and read,
besides all his other avocations, it is very evident that under a
monarchical government his services would be well paid for. A drudge
of this kind costs ten or twenty thousand francs a year; and he enjoys,
moreover, the opera-boxes, the social invitations, and the carriages of
the minister. The Emperor of Russia would be thankful to be able to pay
fifty thousand a year to one of these amiable constitutional poodles,
so gentle, so nicely curled, so caressing, so docile, always spick and
span,--careful watch-dogs besides, and faithful to a degree! But
the private secretary is a product of the representative government
hot-house; he is propagated and devel