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Jean Valjean had taken Toussaint with him, a thing which he had never done in his previous absences. He perceived the possibility of not returning to the Rue Plumet, and he could neither leave Toussaint behind nor confide his secret to her. Besides, he felt that she was devoted and trustworthy. Treachery between master and servant begins in curiosity.
"'To see Madame Plumet. What wrong is there in that? "'None whatever of course not. "'Not the least in the world, eh? Ha, ha! What a trifle flurries you. Come now, collect yourself. There is nothing to be frightened at. As I was coming upstairs, your dog put his muzzle out; I guessed he was not alone, so I left my maid with Madame Plumet, and came in at the right-hand door instead of the left.
He retired calling me Monsieur le Comte; and all for two sous O fatherland of Brutus! The letter was from Lampron, who had forgotten to put a stamp on it. "MY DEAR FRIEND: "Madame Plumet, to whom I believe you have given no instructions so to do, is at present busying herself considerably about your affairs.
To complete my misery, all my acquaintances are out of town: the Boule family is bathing at Trouville; the second clerk has not returned from his holiday; the fourth only waited for my arrival to get away himself; Lampron, detained by my Lord Bishop and the forest shades, gives no sign of his existence; even Monsieur and Madame Plumet have locked up their flat and taken the train for Barbizon.
So much the worse, I must finish it: "I will try to reconstruct the scene for you, from the details which I have gathered. "The time is a quarter to ten in the morning. There is a knock at Monsieur Plumet's door. The door opposite is opened half-way and Madame Plumet looks out.
She showed us to the top of the stairs, did little Madame Plumet, pleased at having won over her husband, at having shown herself so cunning, and at being employed in a conspiracy of love. In the street Lampron shook me by the hand. "Good-by, my friend," he said; "happy men don't need company.
On my way back, just as I was crossing the Place de l'Opera in the aforesaid cab, a voice hailed me: "Monsieur Mouillard!" I looked first to the right and then to the left, till, on a refuge, I caught sight of M. Plumet struggling to attract my attention. I stopped the cab, and a smile of satisfaction spread over M. Plumet's countenance. He stepped off the refuge. I opened the cab-door.
Given, you understand. "You may even tell them that it is on its way. I have just arranged with Plumet about packing it. He is a good workman, as you know. To-morrow all will be ready, and my home an absolute void. "I intend to take refuge in hard work, and I count upon you to alleviate to some extent the hardships of such a method of consolation.
"Madame Plumet, who must have been listening at the door, came in at that moment, trembling like a leaf, and prepared to dare all. "I beg you won't, Mademoiselle, broke in Dufilleul; 'there is no secret. I only wanted to tease you. The portrait is for a friend of mine who lives at Fontainebleau. "'His name? "'Gonin he's a solicitor. "'It was time you told me. How wretched you both looked.
Now Toussaint, as though she had been destined to be Jean Valjean's servant, was not curious. She stammered in her peasant dialect of Barneville: "I am made so; I do my work; the rest is no affair of mine." In this departure from the Rue Plumet, which had been almost a flight, Jean Valjean had carried away nothing but the little embalmed valise, baptized by Cosette "the inseparable."
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