recently ['rJsntlI], failure ['feIljq], buoyancy ['bOIqnsI]

Recently there had been a sudden death at the Quai d'Orsay; the chief of an important department had succumbed to a heart failure. Speculation was rife as to who would replace him. Jules Colbert was one of those in line for the job and yet…

It saddened Mme. Colbert almost to the point of desperation to see how her husband's buoyancy from his younger days struggled to break through the weight of pessimism that experience had laid upon his shoulders. He dared to hope again, even against all of the political corruption which would shatter his hopes and this time leave him an old and broken man.

This then was the burden (итак, это было бременем) that Mme. Colbert carried about with her (которое мадам Кольбер носила /всегда/ с собой). She had helped her husband by working and taking financial strain off him (она помогла своему мужу, работая и избавляя его от финансовых затруднений; to take off — убирать, уменьшать; strain — натяжение; напряжение; нагрузка; to strain — натягивать; напрягать) and so had built herself into her position (и так утвердилась своем посту; to build — строить; основываться, расти) in the great dressmaking house (в крупной фирме по пошиву дамского платья; house — дом; фирма, организация). But she realized now that this was not enough (но она понимала теперь, что этого было недостаточно) and that in another way she had failed (и что в некотором смысле: «другом направлении» она потерпела неудачу). The wife of a diplomat or a politician must herself be a diplomat or a politician (жена дипломата или политика должна сама быть дипломатом или политиком), conduct a salon to which the great and the might-be great would be invited (управлять салоном, в который приглашались бы сильные мира сего и могущие стать сильными); she would wheedle (она бы угождала; to wheedle — подольщаться; пресмыкаться; обхаживать), flatter (льстила), intrigue (интриговала), even if need be give herself to advance her husband's interests (даже, если потребуется отдала бы себя, чтобы содействовать интересам своего мужа; need — нужда; потребность). Here was the ideal situation for such assistance (это была идеальная ситуация для такого содействия); a plum was ready to fall to the right man (доходное место было готово достаться нужному человеку; plum — слива; доходное место,«лакомый кусочек»; to fall — падать; доставаться) and there was no way (и не было способа) she could influence it into the lap of her Jules (/каким/ она могла бы повлиять, /чтобы она попала/ в подол = в руки ее Жюля). There was no one in those circles (не было никого в тех кругах) who cared so much as a fig for her or her husband (кто позаботился = сделал бы даже пустяк/мелочь для нее или ее мужа; fig — фига; винная ягода, инжир; нечто мелкое, незначительное; пустяк).

burden [bWdn], salon [sx'lLN], intrigue [In'trJg]

This then was the burden that Mme. Colbert carried about with her. She had helped her husband by working and taking financial strain off him and so had built herself into her position in the great dressmaking house. But she realized now that this was not enough and that in another way she had failed. The wife of a diplomat or a politician must herself be a diplomat or a politician, conduct a salon to which the great and the might-be great would be invited; she would wheedle, flatter, intrigue, even if need be give herself to advance her husband's interests. Here was the ideal situation for such assistance; a plum was ready to fall to the right man and there was no way she could influence it into the lap of her Jules. There was no one in those circles who cared so much as a fig for her or her husband.

This knowledge drove Mme.