life. Show a clock
to an embryo mechanic, and you reveal to him the whole mechanism; he
thus develops the germs of his faculty which lie dormant within him.
In like manner Modeste had the instinct to appropriate the distinctive
qualities of Madame de Maufrigneuse and Madame de Chaulieu. For her, the
sight of these women was an education; whereas a bourgeois would merely
have ridiculed their ways or made them absurd by clumsy imitation. A
well-born, well-educated, and right-minded young woman like Modeste
fell naturally into connection with these people, and saw at once the
differences that separate the aristocratic world from the bourgeois
world, the provinces from the faubourg Saint-Germain; she caught the
almost imperceptible shadings; in short, she perceived the grace of the
"grande dame" without doubting that she could herself acquire it. She
noticed also that her father and La Briere appeared infinitely better
in this Olympus than Canalis. The great poet, abdicating his real
and incontestable power, that of the mind, became nothing more than
a courtier seeking a ministry, intriguing for an order, and forced to
please the whole galaxy. Ernest de La Briere, without ambitions, was
able to be himself; while Melchior became, to use a vulgar expression,
a mere toady, and courted the Prince de Loudon, the Duc de Rhetore, the
Vicomte de Serizy, or the Duc de Maufrigneuse, like a man not free
to assert himself, as did Colonel Mignon, who was justly proud of his
campaigns, and of the confidence of the Emperor Napoleon. Modeste took
note of the strained efforts of the man of real talent, seeking some
witticism that should raise a laugh, some clever speech, some compliment
with which to flatter these grand personages, whom it was his interest
to please. In a word, to Modeste's eyes the peacock plucked out his
tail-feathers.

Toward the middle of the evening the young girl sat down with the grand
equerry in a corner of the salon. She led him there purposely to end
a suit which she could no longer encourage if she wished to retain her
self-respect.

"Monsieur le duc, if you really knew me," she said, "you would
understand how deeply I am touched by your attentions. It is because of
the profound respect I feel for your character, and the friendship which
a soul like yours inspires in mine, that I cannot endure to wound your
self-love. Before your arrival in Havre I loved sincerely, deeply, and
forever, one who is worthy of bein