o 975008. This is as much as to say that she
would never find it. Doubtless her instinct told her the same, for she
attached herself distractedly to him.

I have related these facts with all the circumstances which seemed to me
worthy of attracting the attention of meditative and philosophic minds.
The Sofa of the Favourite is worthy of the majesty of history; on
it were decided the destinies of a great people; nay, on it was
accomplished an act whose renown was to extend over the neighbouring
nations both friendly and hostile, and even over all humanity. Too often
events of this nature escape the superficial minds and shallow spirits
who inconsiderately assume the task of writing history. Thus the secret
springs of events remain hidden from us. The fall of Empires and the
transmission of dominions astonish us and remain incomprehensible to us,
because we have not discovered the imperceptible point, or touched the
secret spring which when put in movement has destroyed and overthrown
everything. The author of this great history knows better than
anyone else his faults and his weaknesses, but he can do himself this
justice--that he has always kept the moderation, the seriousness, the
austerity, which an account of affairs of State demands, and that he has
never departed from the gravity which is suitable to a recital of human
actions.

VII. THE FIRST CONSEQUENCES

When Eveline confided to Paul Visire that she had never experienced
anything similar, he did not believe her. He had had a good deal to do
with women and knew that they readily say these things to men in order
to make them more in love with them. Thus his experience, as sometimes
happens, made him disregard the truth. Incredulous, but gratified all
the same, he soon felt love and something more for her. This state at
first seemed favourable to his intellectual faculties. Visire delivered
in the chief town of his constituency a speech full of grace, brilliant
and happy, which was considered to be a masterpiece.

The re-opening of Parliament was serene. A few isolated jealousies, a
few timid ambitions raised their heads in the House, and that was all. A
smile from the Prime Minister was enough to dissipate these shadows.
She and he saw each other twice a day, and wrote to each other in the
interval. He was accustomed to intimate relationships, was adroit, and
knew how to dissimulate; but Eveline displayed a foolish imprudence: she
made herself conspicuou