Their mother was lost in silence at these recollections. She roamed along the enclosure which protected the deserted property, looked at the faded bunches of wistaria, the garden in disorder and the destruction due to neglect; then, saddened, she led her children to the path which winds by many turns towards the castle and the lawns of Uriage. In the evening she invented a headache to refuse at the last moment an invitation which she had already accepted, but the next day and the day after, new opportunities offered, and she soon ceased to struggle against so swift a tide. Her friends purposely selected as her dinner partners--not without thought of consolation--their most charming men-guests, but she was not conscious of their intentions. After the fifteenth of August, Philippe Lagier came and stayed at the best hotel near the casino. There was nothing unusual about his being there. He took advantage of the closing of court to rest in the valley where one breathes the mountain air; every year the bar and magistrates of Grenoble are well represented here. He was immediately surrounded and overwhelmed with invitations; for he brought with him an element of interest into Mme. Passerat's little circle. His caustic wit, his constant irony, his travels and his taste for the plastic arts gave a varied turn to the conversation which made him very much sought after by women: they like the little excitement occasioned by clever paradoxes or original and boldly defended opinions. And so by general consent, it was agreed that Elizabeth and her husband's lawyer be brought together, and that so interesting a flirtation be aided and abetted. Scorching through Uriage one day, trying to break a record, the little clerk Malaunay, in plaid knickers and with bare calves, bending over his bicycle as if he wished to bite the handle bars, still had eyes to see the young woman and her companion, as they were watching the races, so that the Tabourin office and indeed all Grenoble knew the truth about their friendship. Philippe Lagier, in visiting Elizabeth, simply fulfilled a duty which gave him renewed pleasure every day. After the useless preliminaries of reconciliation, the deed of separation had been sent out. It had to be answered in Albert's name, so Albert meant to seek a divorce, and in turn take the offensive. Before drawing up such embarrassing conclusions, the lawyer had gone to the Boulevard des Adieux to consult someone for whose advice he had the greatest regard. "Here," he had explained to Mme. Derize Senior, "is what your son wishes to reply. He is not going to defend himself any longer; he is attacking. He has given me the private diary he has kept intermittently since his marriage. He thinks I am sure to find therein proofs of a continual grievance; but the incompatibility of temperament is not ground for divorce. And then, must I make use of this?"