Meantime, as Perrin is no fool, you had better profit to the full by
this temporary delay."


"Well done, Picard!" shouted Edouard. "Notary cut notary. I won't
lose an hour. I'll start at five; Commandant Raynal is an early riser
himself."

Accordingly, at five he was on the road; Raynal's quarters lay in the
direct line to his uncle's place. He found the commandant at home, and
was well received. Raynal had observed his zeal, and liked his manners.
He gave him the week's leave, and kept him to breakfast, and had his
horse well fed. At eight o'clock Edouard rode out of the premises in
high spirits. At the very gate he met a gaunt figure riding in on a
squab pony. It was Perrin the notary coming in hot haste to his friend
and employer, Commandant Raynal.




CHAPTER V.


After Edouard's departure, Josephine de Beaurepaire was sad, and weighed
down with presentiments. She felt as soldiers sometimes feel who know
the enemy is undermining them; no danger on the surface; nothing that
can be seen, met, baffled, attacked, or evaded; in daily peril, all the
more horrible that it imitates perfect serenity, they await the fatal
match. She imparted her misgivings to Aubertin; but he assured her she
exaggerated the danger.