I offer you a seat in my carriage?"

"Thank you, but I am not two steps away from the Rue d'Aumale."

Vaudrey turned towards Madame Gerson; she and her husband bowed low.

"May I not set you down at your house, madame?"

"Your Excellency is very kind, but we have our own carriage!"

"Au revoir," said Vaudrey to Lissac, "come and breakfast with me
to-morrow."

"With pleasure!"

"To the ministry!" said Vaudrey to the coachman as he stepped into his
carriage.

He sank back upon the cushions with a feeling of delight as if glad to
be alone. All the scenes of that evening floated again before his eyes.
He felt once more in his nostrils the subtle, penetrating perfume of the
greenroom, he saw again the blue eyes of the little danseuse. The
admiring looks, the respectful salutes, the smiles of the women, the
soft, caressing tones of Sabine, and Madame Gerson's pearly teeth, he
saw or heard all these again, and above all, this word clear as a
clarion, triumphant as a trumpet's blast: _Success!_ All this came back
again to him.

"You have succeeded!"

He heard Guy's voice again speaking this to him in joyous tones.
Succeeded! It was certainly true.

Minister! Was it possible! He had at his beck and call a whole host of
functionaries and servitors! He it was who had the power to make the
whole machine of government move--he, the lawyer from Grenoble--who ten
years ago would have thought it a great honor to have been appointed to
a place in the department of Isere!

All those people whom he could see in the shadow of the lighted
boulevards buying the newspapers at the kiosks, would read therein his
name and least gesture and action.

_"Monsieur le Ministre has taken up his residence on the Place Beauvau.
Monsieur Vaudrey this morning received the heads of the Bureaus and the
personnel of the Department of the Ministry of the Interior. Monsieur
Vaudrey, with the assistance of Monsieur Henri Jacquier of Oise,
undersecretary of State, is actively engaged in examining the reports of
prefects and under-prefects. Monsieur will doubtless make some needed
reforms in the administration of the prefectures."_ Everywhere, in all
the newspapers, Monsieur Vaudrey! The Minister of the Interior! He, his
name, his words, his projects, his deeds!

Success! Yes, it was his, it had come!

Never in his wildest visions had he dreamed of the success that he had
attained. Never had he expected to catch sight of such bright rays as
tho