Bless you, the whole town has paid her for that in
praises, respect, and admiration,--the very best of coin. I don't
recognize any service that is only the capital of self-love. Men make
a commerce of their services, and gratitude goes down on the debit
side,--that's all. As to schemes, they are my divinity. What?" he
exclaimed, at a gesture of Canalis, "don't you admire the faculty
which enables a wily man to get the better of a man of genius? it
takes the closest observation of his vices, and his weaknesses, and
the wit to seize the happy moment. Ask diplomacy if its greatest
triumphs are not those of craft over force? If I were your secretary,
Monsieur le baron, you'd soon be prime-minister, because it would be
my interest to have you so. Do you want a specimen of my talents in
that line? Well then, listen; you love Mademoiselle Modeste
distractedly, and you've good reason to do so. The girl has my fullest
esteem; she is a true Parisian. Sometimes we get a few real Parisians
born down here in the provinces. Well, Modeste is just the woman to
help a man's career. She's got _that_ in her," he cried, with a turn of
his wrist in the air.
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