"The clandestine" is not all sugar. A more miserable party never went
along, even to a wedding.
After waiting a long time for the doctor to declare himself, they turned
desperate, and began to chatter all manner of trifles. This had a good
effect: it roused Aubertin from his reverie, and presently he gave them
the following piece of information: "I told you the other day that a
nephew of mine was just dead; a nephew I had not seen for many years.
Well, my friends, I received last night a hasty summons to his funeral."
"At Frejus?"
"No, at Paris. The invitation was so pressing, that I was obliged to go.
The letter informed me, however, that a diligence passes through Frejus,
at eleven o'clock, for Paris. I heard you say you were going to
Frejus; so I packed up a few changes of linen, and my MS., my work on
entomology, which at my last visit to the capital all the publishers
were mad enough to refuse: here it is. Apropos, has Jacintha put my bag
into the carriage?"
On this a fierce foot-search, and the bag was found. Meantime, Josephine
leaned back in her seat with a sigh of thankfulness.
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