ow some tenderness at times, you are too superior a woman
to pay any attention to such follies; you will forgive me,--you are not
a school-girl, or a bourgeoise of the rue Saint-Denis. Bah! you and I
are too well brought up for that. There's the Marquise d'Espard who has
just left the room; this is precisely what she thinks and does. She and
I came to an understanding two years ago [the coxcomb!], and now she has
only to write me a line and say, 'My dear des Lupeaulx, you will oblige
me by doing such and such a thing,' and it is done at once. We are
engaged at this very moment in getting a commission of lunacy on her
husband. Ah! you women, you can get what you want by the bestowal of a
few favors. Well, then, my dear child, bewitch the minister. I'll help
you; it is my interest to do so. Yes, I wish he had a woman who could
influence him; he wouldn't escape me,--for he does escape me quite
often, and the reason is that I hold him only through his intellect.
Now if I were one with a pretty woman who was also intimate with him,
I should hold him by his weaknesses, and that is much the firmest grip.
Therefore, let us be friends, you and I, and share the advantages of the
conquest you are making."

Madame Rabourdin listened in amazement to this singular profession of
rascality. The apparent artlessness of this political swindler prevented
her from suspecting a trick.

"Do you believe he really thinks of me?" she asked, falling into the
trap.

"I know it; I am certain of it."

"Is it true that Rabourdin's appointment is signed?"

"I gave him the papers this morning. But it is not enough that your
husband should be made director; he must be Master of petitions."

"Yes," she said.

"Well, then, go back to the salon and coquette a little more with his
Excellency."

"It is true," she said, "that I never fully understood you till
to-night. There is nothing commonplace about /you/."

"We will be two old friends," said des Lupeaulx, "and suppress all
tender nonsense and tormenting love; we will take things as they did
under the Regency. Ah! they had plenty of wit and wisdom in those days!"

"You are really strong; you deserve my admiration," she said, smiling,
and holding out her hand to him, "one does more for one's friend, you
know, than for one's--"

She left him without finishing her sentence.

"Dear creature!" thought des Lupeaulx, as he saw her approach the
minister, "des Lupeaulx has no longer the slightest r