grew impatient and irritable, and often lost his good humour
and agreeableness. He came to the cabinet meetings in a rage and he,
too, poured invectives upon General Debonnaire--a brave man under fire
but a lax disciplinarian--and launched his sarcasms at against the
venerable admiral Vivier des Murenes whose ships went to the bottom
without any apparent reason.

Fortune Lapersonne listened open-eyed, and grumbled scoffingly between
his teeth:

"He is not satisfied with robbing Hippolyte Ceres of his wife, but he
must go and rob him of his catchwords too."

These storms were made known by the indiscretion of some ministers and
by the complaints of the two old warriors, who declared their intention
of flinging their portfolios at the beggar's head, but who did nothing
of the sort. These outbursts, far from injuring the lucky Prime
Minister, had an excellent effect on Parliament and public opinion,
who looked on them as signs of a keen solicitude for the welfare of the
national army and navy. The Prime Minister was the recipient of general
approbation.

To the congratulations of the various groups and of notable personages,
he replied with simple firmness: "Those are my principles!" and he had
seven or eight Socialists put in prison.

The session ended, and Paul Visire, very exhausted, went to take the
waters. Hippolyte Ceres refused to leave his Ministry, where the trade
union of telephone girls was in tumultuous agitation. He opposed it with
an unheard of violence, for he had now become a woman-hater. On Sundays
he went into the suburbs to fish along with his colleague Lapersonne,
wearing the tall hat that never left him since he had become a Minister.
And both of them, forgetting the fish, complained of the inconstancy of
women and mingled their griefs.

Hippolyte still loved Eveline and he still suffered. However, hope
had slipped into his heart. She was now separated from her lover, and,
thinking to win her back, he directed all his efforts to that end.
He put forth all his skill, showed himself sincere, adaptable,
affectionate, devoted, even discreet; his heart taught him the
delicacies of feeling. He said charming and touching things to the
faithless one, and, to soften her, he told her all that he had suffered.

Crossing the band of his trousers upon his stomach.

"See," said he, "how thin I have got."

He promised her everything he thought could gratify a woman, country
parties, hats, jewels.

Somet