"Of course you will accompany Mademoiselle Modeste on her ride
to-day?" said Butscha, who went to Canalis's house to let La Briere
know by a wink that the whip had gone to its destination.
"I?" answered Ernest; "no, I am going to bed."
"Bah!" exclaimed Canalis, looking at him. "I don't know what to make
of you."
Breakfast was then served, and the poet naturally invited their
visitor to stay and take it. Butscha complied, having seen in the
expression of the valet's face the success of a trick in which we
shall see the first fruits of his promise to Modeste.
"Monsieur is very right to detain the clerk of Monsieur Latournelle,"
whispered Germain in his master's ear.
Canalis and Germain went into the salon on a sign that passed between
them.
"I went out this morning to see the men fish, monsieur," said the
valet,--"an excursion proposed to me by the captain of a smack, whose
acquaintance I have made."
Germain did not acknowledge that he had the bad taste to play
billiards in a cafe,--a fact of which Butscha had taken advantage to
surround him with friends of his own and manage him as he pleased.
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