r a son-in-law,
for the responsible editor of her future power. He belonged, through his
mother, to the family of Maulincour, and the old Baronne de Maulincour,
the friend of the Vidame de Pamiers, was then living in the centre of
the faubourg Saint-Germain. The grandson of the baroness, Auguste de
Maulincour, held a fine position in the army. Paul would therefore be
an excellent introducer for the Evangelistas into Parisian society. The
widow had known something of the Paris of the Empire, she now desired to
shine in the Paris of the Restoration. There alone were the elements of
political fortune, the only business in which women of the world could
decently co-operate. Madame Evangelista, compelled by her husband's
affairs to reside in Bordeaux, disliked the place. She desired a wider
field, as gamblers rush to higher stakes. For her own personal ends,
therefore, she looked to Paul as a means of destiny, she proposed to
employ the resources of her own talent and knowledge of life to advance
her son-in-law, in order to enjoy through him the delights of power.
Many men are thus made the screens of secret feminine ambitions. Madame
Evangelista had, however, more than one interest, as we shall see, in
laying hold of her daughter's husband.

Paul was naturally captivated by this woman, who charmed him all the
more because she seemed to seek no influence over him. In reality she
was using her ascendancy to magnify herself, her daughter, and all her
surroundings in his eyes, for the purpose of ruling from the start the
man in whom she saw a means of gratifying her social longings. Paul, on
the other hand, began to value himself more highly when he felt himself
appreciated by the mother and daughter. He thought himself much cleverer
than he really was when he found his reflections and sayings accepted
and understood by Mademoiselle Natalie--who raised her head and smiled
in response to them--and by the mother, whose flattery always seemed
involuntary. The two women were so kind and friendly to him, he was so
sure of pleasing them, they ruled him so delightfully by holding the
thread of his self-love, that he soon passed all his time at the hotel
Evangelista.

A year after his return to Bordeaux, Comte Paul, without having declared
himself, was so attentive to Natalie that the world considered him as
courting her. Neither mother nor daughter appeared to be thinking of
marriage. Mademoiselle Evangelista preserved towards Paul t