Men who possess such talent follow their path courageously; they accept its pains and penalties, and don't cover them with tinsel." A woman's thought is endowed with incredible elasticity.

When she receives a knockdown blow, she bends, seems crushed, and then renews her natural shape in a given time.
"Felix is no doubt right," thought she.
But three days later she was once more thinking of the serpent, recalled to him by that singular emotion, painful and yet sweet, which the first sight of Raoul had given her.

The count and countess went to Lady Dudley's grand ball, where, by the bye, de Marsay appeared in society for the last time.

He died about two months later, leaving the reputation of a great statesman, because, as Blondet remarked, he was incomprehensible.
Vandenesse and his wife again met Raoul Nathan at this ball, which was remarkable for the meeting of several personages of the political drama, who were not a little astonished to find themselves together.

It was one of the first solemnities of the great world.