This paper had hitherto vigorously supported the President of the Council, but in the article in question the coldness which precedes a rupture was very apparent. Pierre replied that the article had much surprised him, for he had imagined that Fonsegue and Barroux were linked together by identity of views and long-standing personal friendship.
Massot was still laughing. “Quite so,” said he. “And you may be sure that the governor’s heart bled when he wrote that article. It has been much noticed, and it will do the government a deal of harm. But the governor, you see, knows better than anybody else what line he ought to follow to save both his own position and the paper’s.”
Then he related what extraordinary confusion and emotion reigned among the deputies in the lobbies through which he h
