"
"Very well," said Valerie. "And now for the next thing.--What about
Coquet's place?"
"That," said Hector, looking away, "is more difficult, not to say
impossible."
"Impossible, my dear Hector?" said Madame Marneffe in the Baron's ear.
"But you do not know to what lengths Marneffe will go. I am completely
in his power; he is immoral for his own gratification, like most men,
but he is excessively vindictive, like all weak and impotent natures.
In the position to which you have reduced me, I am in his power. I am
bound to be on terms with him for a few days, and he is quite capable
of refusing to leave my room any more."
Hulot started with horror.
"He would leave me alone on condition of being head-clerk. It is
abominable--but logical."
"Valerie, do you love me?"
"In the state in which I am, my dear, the question is the meanest
insult."
"Well, then--if I were to attempt, merely to attempt, to ask the
Prince for a place for Marneffe, I should be done for, and Marneffe
would be turned out."
"I thought that you and the Prince were such intimate friends."
"We are, and he has amply proved it; but, my child, there is authority
above the Marshal's--for instance, the whole Council of Ministers.
With time and a little tacking, we shall get there. But, to succeed, I
must wait till the moment when some service is required of me. Then I
can say one good turn deserves another--"
"If I tell Marneffe this tale, my poor Hector, he will play us some
mean trick.
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