But has a woman ever governed France successfully--from the boudoir or the throne?
Look back into history, my dear Howard, and tell me what the end of a woman's government has always been." It was the first time that my old patron had named politics in my hearing, or acknowledged their bearing upon the condition of private persons in France.

His father had been of the emigration.

He himself had been born in exile.

The family prestige was but a ghost of its former self--and I had hitherto treated the subject as a sore one and beyond my province.
The Vicomte had sat down at my table.

As for me, I was already on the broad window seat, looking down into the garden.