"If you should hear of a convenient bachelor lodging, at Lyons,
or near it," continued the other, dropping his voice and speaking
more rapidly than before, "you would be doing me a favor if you
would let me know about it."
Lomaque assented; but before he could add a question which was on
the tip of his tongue, Trudaine had vanished in the interior of
the house.
"A bachelor lodging!" repeated the land-steward, standing alone
on the doorstep. "At or near Lyons! Aha! Monsieur Trudaine, I put
your bachelor lodging and your talk to me last night together,
and I make out a sum total which is, I think, pretty near the
mark. You have refused that Paris appointment, my friend; and I
fancy I can guess why."
He paused thoughtfully, and shook his head with ominous frowns
and bitings of his lips.
"All clear enough in that sky," he continued, after a while,
looking up at the lustrous midday heaven. "All clear enough
there; but I think I see a little cloud rising in a certain
household firmament already--a little cloud which hides much, and
which I for one shall watch carefully."
_PART SECOND._
CHAPTER I.
Five years have elapsed since Monsieur Lomaque stood thoughtfully
at the gate of Trudaine's house, looking after the carriage of
the bride and bridegroom, and seriously reflecting on the events
of the future. Great changes have passed over that domestic
firmament in which he prophetically discerned the little warning
cloud.
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