"Mamzelle Agathe--a fine slip of a girl!"

"Well, tell me, Thoma.s.seau, in which direction is that lady's house?"

"Oh! it's at the other side of the village, in sight of the railroad."

"And I can't see it from this window?"

"No, madame, there's too many houses in between."

"Do you know also where a young man from Paris lives--a very fashionable young man, who has hired a large house just for himself alone?"

"A nice-looking, dandified young gentleman? that must be the one who's hired Monsieur Durand's house."

"His name is Edmond Didier."

"That's it, Monsieur Edmond; well, he lives not far from Madame Droguet's, on the main street."

"Can I see his house from here?"

"No better than the other; it's on the other side, where the land slopes off a little; the village ain't as even as a mirror."

"Very well; thanks.--I cannot see their houses," thought the beautiful brunette, "but that won't prevent my knowing what they do on the other side of the village. I will go out and walk about my garden; it's quite extensive and there must be other points of view."

Thelenie wandered through the garden and through the little wood, which might have pa.s.sed muster as a park. She ascended several low hills on which were built pretty summer-houses, whence one could overlook the surrounding country; but as she was not familiar with it, she made no progress.

After a long stroll the lady with the great black eyes returned to her apartment, which she examined more in detail; then she gave orders for the dinner to be hurried forward, the change of air having sharpened her appet.i.te.

All this had taken time, and Thelenie suddenly remembered that she had not seen her husband since their arrival. She concluded that he was sulky because she had abused him so on the subject of her bandboxes, and she gave no further thought to him.

Meanwhile time pa.s.sed, and madame was informed that dinner was served.

"Very well," said Thelenie; "tell monsieur that I am going to dine."

"But where shall I find monsieur, madame?"

"Where will you find him? why, in his apartment, I presume."

"Where is his apartment, madame?"

"Just opposite mine--in the right wing, on the first floor."

Mademoiselle went in search of her master; but she soon returned and said:

"I have been to all the rooms you mentioned, madame, and I haven't been able to find monsieur."

"Then he must be in the garden; that man is intolerable--to make us hunt for him like this! he must know that it's dinner-time. Tell Thoma.s.seau to look for monsieur in the park, and let Lapierre help him; I am dying of hunger, and I am going to dine."

Madame seated herself at the table and ate her soup. She came to the _hors d'uvre_ and still Chamoureau did not appear; but the gardener and the coachman reported that they had looked everywhere and that monsieur was certainly not in the garden or in the wood.

"This is very strange! Where has he hidden himself? Can he have fallen into some hole?"

"Oh! madame, there ain't a single hole on your whole estate just now."

"But the pond?"

"The pond's only two feet and a half deep; you'd have to work pretty hard to drown yourself in it!--Besides, Monsieur de Belleville ain't a child."

"Madame," said the maid, "monsieur was the first one to enter the house, and we haven't seen or heard him since. It's a very strange thing! He didn't know the house, for it's the first time he ever came here; he must have got lost in the cellar."

"It is hardly probable that Monsieur de Belleville began by rushing down to inspect the cellar as soon as he got here. But no matter, let someone go and look."

The servants went down into the cellars, which were quite extensive; they went through every part of them, calling their master, but they found no one.

"Now let's go up under the eaves," said Mademoiselle Melie; "for I am convinced monsieur is in the house."

They visited the attics, then the loft, but they did not find Chamoureau.

"It must be that monsieur's fallen into one of the wells," cried the gardener; "there's two in the garden!"

And they were going down to inspect the wells, when, as they reached the second floor, Mademoiselle Melie thought that she heard a voice coming from the end of a corridor which led to the toilet rooms.

"Wait a minute!" she said; "I heard something that sounded like a voice calling; it came from this direction."

They walked along the corridor, and soon they heard Chamoureau's voice distinctly, crying:

"Hola! help! this way! come and let me out! Sapristi! I've been shut up here since morning, and I can't get out!"

"Oh! mon Dieu! monsieur is shut up there! let's hurry!"

The little _cabinet_ was at the very end of the corridor, and was lighted from above only; to open the door, one had simply to push it, then it closed automatically. But there was nothing inside to take hold of--neither k.n.o.b nor latch--so that the person who entered the place, if he allowed the door to close, could not get out until someone came to set him free.

The new proprietor, on entering his house, with which he was entirely unacquainted, had begun by going over the first floor, then had gone up to the second, and, unluckily for him, had noticed the corridor first of all, and walked to the end of it to find out where it led. He had opened the door and found himself in the little toilet-room, and, as owner of the house, had deemed it proper to see if it was comfortably arranged. But the infernal door had closed, and, in his struggles to get out, Chamoureau had tried in vain to open it with his fingers and even with his nails. Then he had begun to call and shout, thinking that they would notice that he was missing and would search for him.

But Thelenie had something else in her head, and not until the dinner hour arrived did she remember her husband. So that the new owner of the house had pa.s.sed more than six hours in the little toilet-room--from half-past twelve until a quarter to seven; for his voice, stifled by the thick door, was not strong enough to reach the end of the long corridor, upon which several rooms opened, but all were unoccupied.

"_Credie_; this is very lucky!" cried Chamoureau, as yellow as a quince after his prolonged stay in the little room; and he rushed out into the corridor so quickly that Mademoiselle Melie fell back on the coachman, who fell back on the gardener, who, having no one to support him, fell on his centre of gravity, saying:

"What! the bourgeois has been in that closet since morning! He must be feeling pretty bad!"

"What animal, what a.s.s, what brute, ever had the idea of putting on a door that closes of itself, without a k.n.o.b or a latch to open it on the inside?" cried Chamoureau. "Sapristi! I shan't forget that sitting very soon! To-morrow I will have three k.n.o.bs put on that door and have it fixed so that it can't close itself.--Didn't you people hear me shout?"

"No, monsieur, of course not; if we had heard you, we shouldn't have had to look for you very long."

"Well! this has been rather an unpleasant apprenticeship; it's been a terribly long day to me. If I have got to pa.s.s my time in the country this way, I'll go back to Paris at once!"

"Dinner was served long ago, and madame is waiting for monsieur at table."

"She's waiting for me at table! She doesn't seem to have been very anxious about me! Well, I'll go to dinner; I need refreshment."