That
the degradation of the one man had been caused by the exclusion of
the other all the world knew.
"It shuts the door to me for ever and ever," said Phineas to Madame
Goesler.
"I don't see that."
"Of course it does. Such an affair places a mark against a man's name
which will never be forgotten."
"Is your heart set upon holding some trifling appointment under a
Minister?"
"To tell you the truth, it is;--or rather it was. The prospect of
office to me was more than perhaps to any other expectant. Even this
man, Bonteen, has some fortune of his own, and can live if he be
excluded. I have given up everything for the chance of something in
this line."
"Other lines are open."
"Not to me, Madame Goesler. I do not mean to defend myself. I have
been very foolish, very sanguine, and am now very unhappy."
"What shall I say to you?"
"The truth."
"In truth, then, I do not sympathise with you. The thing lost is too
small, too mean to justify unhappiness."
"But, Madame Goesler, you are a rich woman.
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