Nothing is more vulgar than the saying, "Small causes often produce great results," but nothing can be more true than this vulgarism. Another proof: De Hansfeld was not acquainted with De Morville, and it was indifferent to him whether he was well or ill spoken of; but giving way unconsciously, no doubt, to a vague desire to stand well with M. de Brévannes, he thought it would be agreeable to him if he shared with him in his opinion of De Morville. Moreover, poor Bertha herself, as much from desire to conciliate her husband, as from that deference, that involuntary acquiescence which a woman invariably accords to the opinion of the man she loves--poor Bertha, we must add, was actually the simple and unsuspecting echo of the prince in the ensuing conversation. This conversation was the _cause_, we shall hereafter discover the _effect_. De Hansfeld, therefore, said,-- "I do not know M. de Morville, I have only seen him once or twice; he seemed handsome, but his affectation struck me as ridiculous, and I heard it remarked that his merit was absurdly exaggerated." "I heard the same thing," added the unlucky Bertha; "he seemed to me to have very regular features, but they were perhaps too insignificant." Paula did not utter a syllable. She took from off the small table the fatal pin, and began to play with the ornament. Iris never took her eyes off her mistress. She started with gloomy joy when she observed her mistress's action. We may see that the petty _cause_ was beginning to produce its _effect_. "I am delighted to see a person of taste like you, sir," said M. de Brévannes to the prince, "confirm my judgment by approval." Arnold, in order to establish himself perfectly in the good graces of Bertha's husband, ventured on a slight falsehood, and added,-- "I remember to have listened one day to his conversation, and I really thought it below mediocrity." "It is true that M. de Morville does not pass, they say, for having a great deal of wit," added the gentle and softly responsive echo, lowering her large blue eyes, and blushing equally at the falsehood and at her effort to stoop to a kind of meanness in order to be agreeable to her husband. The petty _cause_ contrived to produce its _effect_. Still retaining the star-ornamented pin in her right hand, Madame de Hansfeld, as it were, beat on her left hand the measure of the _crescendo_ of the anger that agitated her, and which included De Brévannes, Bertha, and the prince. [Illustration 17: "Paula did not utter a syllabe; she took the fatal pin and began playing with the ornament."] At this moment, she again encountered the eyes of Iris, and instead of turning from the look of the Bohemian, she gazed at her for a moment with an air so significant, that Iris thought she was about to give her the pin. De Brévannes continued, addressing Madame de Hansfeld,--