He took a step into the room, his hand upon the door.
"Then you think it was a success, Gabrielle?"
"I don't think at all about it; it was what Mr. Faber would have called 'electrical.'"
He let go the door, and then shut it behind him.
"Ah!" he said, as though thinking upon it, "if we could have had Faber with us."
She laughed, showing the superb whiteness of her teeth.
"The lion and the lamb. Why do you attach any importance to him?"
He crossed the room to an arm-chair and sat there, poking the fire.
"He is one of the men who can make peace or war," he said. "Sir Jules Achon agrees with me. Popular sentiment goes for much, but the men who control the destinies are the financiers."
"But, father, how could Mr. Faber control this particular situation?"