"Irony is allowable from the vanquished to the conquerer."
The conversation, begun in this strain, ended in a complete
reconciliation; still Crevel maintained his right to take his revenge.
Madame Marneffe particularly wished to be invited to Mademoiselle
Hulot's wedding. To enable him to receive his future mistress in his
drawing-room, the great official was obliged to invite all the clerks
of his division down to the deputy head-clerks inclusive. Thus a grand
ball was a necessity. The Baroness, as a prudent housewife, calculated
that an evening party would cost less than a dinner, and allow of a
larger number of invitations; so Hortense's wedding was much talked
about.
Marshal Prince Wissembourg and the Baron de Nucingen signed in behalf
of the bride, the Comtes de Rastignac and Popinot in behalf of
Steinbock. Then, as the highest nobility among the Polish emigrants
had been civil to Count Steinbock since he had become famous, the
artist thought himself bound to invite them. The State Council, and
the War Office to which the Baron belonged, and the army, anxious to
do honor to the Comte de Forzheim, were all represented by their
magnates. There were nearly two hundred indispensable invitations. How
natural, then, that little Madame Marneffe was bent on figuring in all
her glory amid such an assembly. The Baroness had, a month since, sold
her diamonds to set up her daughter's house, while keeping the finest
for the trousseau.
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