Adrienne, overwhelmed with surprise, enjoyed the reflections from the golden aurora of power that so sweetly tinted Sulpice's life. She shared her husband's triumphs without haughtiness, and now, however she might love her domestic life, it was incumbent upon her to pass more of her time in society than formerly, _to show herself_, as Sulpice said, and, surrounded by the success and flattery she enjoyed, she felt that that obligation was only an added joy, whose contentment she reflected on her husband. When she entered a salon, she was greeted with a flattering murmur of admiration and good-natured curiosity. The women looked at her and the men surrounded her. "Madame Vaudrey?" "The minister's wife!" "Charming!" "Quite young!" "Somewhat provincial!" "So much the more attractive!" "That is true, as fresh as a peach!" She endeavored to atone by a gracious, very sincere modesty, for the enviable position in which chance had suddenly placed her. It was said of her that she accepted a compliment as timidly as a boarding-school miss receives a prize. They forgave her for retaining her rosy cheeks because of her white and exquisitely shaped hands. She was not considered to be "_trop de Grenoble_." Witty people called her the pretty _Dauphinoise_, and the flatterers the little Dauphine. In short, her _success_ was great! So said the chroniclers; the entrance of a fashionable woman into a salon being daily compared with that of an actress on the stage. It was especially because Vaudrey appeared to be so happy, that his young wife was so contented. She felt none of the vainglory of power. Generally alone in the vast, deserted apartments of the ministry, with all their commonplace, luxurious appointments, she more than once regretted the home in the Chaussee-d'Antin, where they enjoyed--but too rarely--a renewal of the cherished solitude of the first months of their union, the familiar chats of the Grenoble days, the prolonged conversations, exchanges of thoughts, hopes and reminiscences--already! only recollections,--and she sometimes said to Sulpice, who was feverishly excited and glowed with delight at having reached the summit of power: "Do you know what this place suggests to me? Why, living in a hotel!" "And you are right," Vaudrey gaily answered; "we are at a hotel, but it is the hotel in which the will of France lodges!" "You understand, my dear, that if you are happy--" "Very happy! it is only now that I can show what I am made of. You shall see, Adrienne, you shall see what I will do and become within a year." Within a year! IV