least fear. And
now, instead of a man ruined and overthrown, there rose before him
a representative of the nation, a deputy whose portrait in stone the
Parisians were coming to admire; for in the eyes of the Oriental, an
idea of distinction being mingled in spite of everything with this
public exhibition, that bust had the prestige of a statue dominating
a square. Still more yellow than usual, Hemerlingue internally accused
himself of clumsiness and imprudence. But how could he ever have dreamed
of such a thing? He had been assured that the bust was not finished. And
in fact it had been there only since morning, and seemed quite at
home, quivering with satisfied pride, defying its enemies with the
good-tempered smile of its curling lip. A veritable silent revenge for
the disaster of Saint-Romans.

For some minutes the Bey, cold and impassible as the sculptured image,
gazed at it without saying anything, his forehead divided by a straight
crease wherein his courtiers alone could read his anger; then, after
two quick words in Arabic, to order the carriages and to reassemble his
scattered suite, he directed his steps gravely towards the door of exit,
without consenting to give even a glance to anything else. Who shall
say what passes in these august brains surfeited with power? Even our
sovereigns of the West have incomprehensible fantasies; but they are
nothing compared with Oriental caprices. Monsieur the Inspector of Fine
Arts, who had made sure of taking his Highness all round the
exhibition and of thus winning the pretty red-and-green ribbon of the
Nicham-Iftikahr, never knew the secret of this sudden flight.

At the moment when the white _haiks_ were disappearing under the porch,
just in time to see the last wave of their folds, the Nabob made his
entry by the middle door. In the morning he had received the news,
"Elected by an overwhelming majority"; and after a sumptuous luncheon,
at which the new deputy for Corsica had been extensively toasted, he
came, with some of his guests, to show himself, to see himself also, to
enjoy all his new glory.

The first person whom he saw as he arrived was Felicia Ruys, standing,
leaning on the pedestal of a statue, surrounded by compliments and
tributes of admiration, to which he made haste to add his own. She was
simply dressed, clad in a black costume embroidered and trimmed with
jet, tempering the severity of her attire with a glittering of reflected
lights, and with a deli