Nothing so provokes a
man with a heart as this strategy. Women can only use it with those
who worship them.
"She turned to me. 'Do you suppose,' she said scornfully, 'that a
Count would have uttered such an insult even if the thought had
entered his mind? For my misfortune I have lived with dukes,
ambassadors, and great lords, and I know their ways. How intolerable
it makes bourgeois life! After all, a playwright is not a Rastignac
nor a Rhetore----'
"Du Bruel looked ghastly at this. Two days afterwards we met in the
_foyer_ at the Opera, and took a few turns together. The conversation
fell on Tullia.
"'Do not take my ravings on the boulevard too seriously,' said he; 'I
have a violent temper.'
"For two winters I was a tolerably frequent visitor at du Bruel's
house, and I followed Claudine's tactics closely. She had a splendid
carriage. Du Bruel entered public life; she made him abjure his
Royalist opinions. He rallied himself; he took his place again in the
administration; the National Guard was discreetly canvassed, du Bruel
was elected major, and behaved so valorously in a street riot, that he
was decorated with the rosette of an officer of the Legion of Honor.
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