ver; she had also been fascinated by the notion of getting into
the haughty society which, in spite of its humiliation, was still
predominant at the Imperial Court. By this marriage all her vanities
were as much gratified as her passions. She was to become a real fine
lady. When the Faubourg Saint-Germain understood that the young Count's
marriage did not mean desertion, its drawing-rooms were thrown open to
his wife.

Then came the Restoration. The Count's political advancement was not
rapid. He understood the exigencies of the situation in which Louis
XVIII. found himself; he was one of the inner circle who waited till the
"Gulf of Revolution should be closed"--for this phrase of the King's, at
which the Liberals laughed so heartily, had a political sense. The order
quoted in the long lawyer's preamble at the beginning of this story had,
however, put him in possession of two tracts of forest, and of an estate
which had considerably increased in value during its sequestration. At
the present moment, though Comte Ferraud was a Councillor of State, and
a Director-General, he regarded his position as merely the first step of
his political career.

Wholly occupied as he was by the anxieties of consuming ambition, he had
attached to himself, as secretary, a ruined attorney named Delbecq, a
more than clever man, versed in all the resources of the law, to whom he
left the conduct of his private affairs. This shrewd practitioner had so
well understood his position with the Count as to be honest in his own
interest. He hoped to get some place by his master's influence, and he
made the Count's fortune his first care. His conduct so effectually gave
the lie to his former life, that he was regarded as a slandered man. The
Countess, with the tact and shrewdness of which most women have a share
more or less, understood the man's motives, watched him quietly,
and managed him so well, that she had made good use of him for the
augmentation of her private fortune. She had contrived to make Delbecq
believe that she ruled her husband, and had promised to get him
appointed President of an inferior court in some important provincial
town, if he devoted himself entirely to her interests.

The promise of a place, not dependent on changes of ministry, which
would allow of his marrying advantageously, and rising subsequently to
a high political position, by being chosen Depute, made Delbecq the
Countess' abject slave. He had never allowed her