An hour later this illustrious company were all assembled in the
salon; some were playing whist, others conversing; the women had their
embroideries in hand, and all were waiting the announcement of dinner.
The Prince de Cadignan was drawing Monsieur Mignon out upon China, and
his campaigns under the empire, and making him talk about the
Portendueres, the L'Estorades, and the Maucombes, Provencal families;
he blamed him for not seeking service, and assured him that nothing
would be easier than to restore him to his rank as colonel of the
Guard.
"A man of your birth and your fortune ought not to belong to the
present Opposition," said the prince, smiling.
This society of distinguished persons not only pleased Modeste, but it
enabled her to acquire, during her stay, a perfection of manners which
without this revelation she would have lacked all her life. Show a
clock to an embryo mechanic, and you reveal to him the whole
mechanism; he thus develops the germs of his faculty which lie dormant
within him. In like manner Modeste had the instinct to appropriate the
distinctive qualities of Madame de Maufrigneuse and Madame de
Chaulieu.
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