Judas had certainly given some murderous blow to Jesus before he betrayed him.

We have within us an inward power of sight, an eye of the soul which foresees catastrophes; and the repugnance that comes over us against the fateful being is the result of that foresight.
Though religion orders us to conquer it, distrust remains, and its voice is forever heard.

Would Oscar, at twenty years of age, have the wisdom to listen to it?
Alas! when, at half-past two o'clock, Oscar entered the salon of the Rocher de Cancale,--where were three invited persons besides the clerks, to wit: an old captain of dragoons, named Giroudeau; Finot, a journalist who might procure an engagement for Florentine at the Opera, and du Bruel, an author, the friend of Tullia, one of Mariette's rivals,--the second clerk felt his secret hostility vanish at the first handshaking, the first dashes of conversation as they sat around a table luxuriously served.

Georges, moreover, made himself charming to Oscar.
"You've taken to private diplomacy," he said; "for what difference is there between a lawyer and an ambassador?
only that between a nation and an individual.

Ambassadors are the attorneys of Peoples.