“Very good, but I will pay for the extra horse in the carriage.”

“Certainly not, and let us have no bargaining, please; it is time to go to bed.  I will put you down at Paris without the journey costing you a farthing, and then if you like you may thank me; these are the only conditions on which I will take you.  Look!  Mdlle.  Adele is laughing, that’s reward enough for me.”

“I am laughing for joy at having escaped that dreadful diligence roof.”

“I see, but I hope you will not weep in my carriage, for all sadness is an abomination to me.”

I went, to bed, resolved to struggle against my fate no longer.  I saw that I could not withstand the tempting charms of this new beauty, and I determined that everything should be over in a couple of days.  Adele had beautiful blue eyes, a complexion wherein were mingled the lily and the rose, a small mouth, excellent teeth, a figure still slender but full of promise; here, surely, were enough motives for a fresh fall.  I fell asleep, thanking my good genius for thus providing me with amusement on the journey.

Just before we started the father came and asked if it was all the same to me whether we went by Burgundy or the Bourbonnais.

“Certainly.  Do you prefer any particular route?”

“If I went through Nevers I might be able to collect a small account.”

“Then we will go by the Bourbonnais.”

Directly after Adele, simply but neatly dressed, came down and wished me good day, telling me that her father was going to put a small trunk containing their belongings at the back of the carriage.  Seeing me busy, she asked if she could help me in any way.

“No,” I replied, “you had better take a seat.”

She did so, but in a timid manner, which annoyed me, because it seemed to express that she was a dependent of mine.  I told her so gently, and made her take some coffee with me, and her shyness soon wore off.

We were just stepping into the carriage when a man came and told me that the lamps were out of repair and would come off if something were not done to them.  He offered to put them into good repair in the course of an hour.  I was in a terrible rage, and called Clairmont and began to scold him, but he said that the lamps were all right a short while ago, and that the man must have put them out of order that he might have the task of repairing them.

He had hit it off exactly.  I had heard of the trick before, and I called out to the man; and on his answering me rather impudently, I began to kick him, with my pistol in my hand.  He ran off swearing, and the noise brought up the landlord and five or six of his people.  Everybody said I was in the right, but all the same I had to waste two hours as it would not have been prudent to travel without lamps.

Another lamp-maker was summoned; he looked at the damage, and laughed at the rascally trick his fellow-tradesman had played me.