In which case, he could openly assume the leadership of the liberal party in Alencon.

After such a marriage he would, of course, renounce the best society and take up with the bourgeois class of tradesmen, rich manufacturers and graziers, who would certainly carry him in triumph as their candidate.

Du Bousquier already foresaw the Left side.
This solemn deliberation he did not conceal; he rubbed his hands over his head, displacing the cap which covered its disastrous baldness.
Suzanne, meantime, like all those persons who succeed beyond their hopes, was silent and amazed.

To hide her astonishment, she assumed the melancholy pose of an injured girl at the mercy of her seducer; inwardly she was laughing like a grisette at her clever trick.
"My dear child," said du Bousquier at length, "I'm not to be taken in with such _bosh_, not I!" Such was the curt remark which ended du Bousquier's meditation.

He plumed himself on belonging to the class of cynical philosophers who could never be "taken in" by women,--putting them, one and all, unto the same category, as _suspicious_.