iny, twisted
moustache curled up at its two ends above his lip like scorpion's tails,
and his hair, anointed with brilliantine and parted in the middle, was
puffed out like his temples, after the fashion of a provincial
lady-killer. He was a little too stout, puffy, though still young, and
his stomach stretched his waistcoat.

The private secretary ate and drank quietly, no doubt accustomed to
these floods of loquacity; but Du Roy, whom jealousy of achieved success
cut to the quick, thought: "Go on you proser. What idiots these
political jokers are." And comparing his own worth to the frothy
importance of the minister, he said to himself, "By Jove! if I had only
a clear hundred thousand francs to offer myself as a candidate at home,
near Rouen, and dish my sunning dullards of Normandy folk in their own
sauce, what a statesman I should make beside these short-sighted
rascals!"

Monsieur Laroche-Mathieu went on spouting until coffee was served; then,
seeing that he was behind hand, he rang for his brougham, and holding
out his hand to the journalist, said: "You quite understand, my dear
fellow?"

"Perfectly, my dear minister; you may rely upon me."

And Du Roy strolled leisurely to the office to begin his article, for he
had nothing to do till four o'clock. At four o'clock he was to meet, at
the Rue de Constantinople, Madame de Marelle, whom he met there
regularly twice a week--on Mondays and Fridays. But on reaching the
office a telegram was handed to him. It was from Madame Walter, and ran
as follows: "I must see you to-day. Most important. Expect me at two
o'clock, Rue de Constantinople. Can render you a great service. Till
death.--Virginie."

He began to swear: "Hang it all, what an infernal bore!" And seized with
a fit of ill-temper, he went out again at once too irritated to work.

For six weeks he had been trying to break off with her, without being
able to wear out her eager attachment. She had had, after her fall, a
frightful fit of remorse, and in three successive rendezvous had
overwhelmed her lover with reproaches and maledictions. Bored by these
scenes and already tired of this mature and melodramatic conquest, he
had simply kept away, hoping to put an end to the adventure in that way.
But then she had distractedly clutched on to him, throwing herself into
this amour as a man throws himself into a river with a stone about his
neck. He had allowed himself to be recaptured out of weakness and
considerat