ABSTRACT
It is a long way from the Grand Hotel to the Rue Galilee where the American Embassy is situated. Jerome therefore opened his business with deliberation. Jerome looked at his companion with undisguised admiration and interest. Liancourt had never held office. He was a mysterious party of himself. Yet his voice was so powerful and his influence so commanding that he had wrecked two ministries within a twelvemonth and practically created their successors. What his own ambition was, or what precisely his convictions were, no one clearly knew. Jerome scrutinised M. Ribou with very natural curiosity. He was always l'homme inconnu; sharp in satire, merciless in debate, unerring in retort; yet with a grave, serious eloquence of his own whenever he chose to exercise it. The Minister for War had a peculiar interest for him. M. Liancourt pointed out several other celebrities with much wit and acumen. Under his examination each Minister became vacuous, feeble, and of small account.
