When Madame Graslin had thus gathered about her the distinguished men
we have mentioned, others were not sorry to give themselves the
reputation of cleverness by seeking to join the same society.
Veronique also received three or four of the distinguished officers of
the garrison and staff; but the freedom of mind displayed by her
guests, and the tacit discretion enjoined by the manners of the best
society, made her extremely cautious as to the admission of those who
now vied with each other to obtain her invitations.

The other women in this provincial society were not without jealousy
in seeing Madame Graslin surrounded by the most agreeable and
distinguished men in the town; but by this time Veronique's social
power was all the stronger because it was exclusive; she accepted the
intimacy of four or five women only, and these were strangers in
Limoges who had come from Paris with their husbands, and who held in
horror the petty gossip of provincial life. If any one outside of this
little clique of superior persons came in to make a visit, the
conversation immediately changed, and the habitues of the house talked
commonplace.

The hotel Graslin thus became an oasis where intelligent minds found
relaxation and relief from the dulness of provincial life; where
persons connected with the government could express themselves freely
on politics without fear of having their words taken down and
repeated; where all could satirize that which provoked satire, and
where each individual abandoned his professional trammels and yielded
himself up to his natural self.

So, after being the most obscure young girl in all Limoges, considered