e was about to leave the room, they stopped her to ask for
instructions, for the first time in her life the despotic old maid,
who saw to everything at Prebaudet with her own eyes, said, to their
stupefaction, "Do what you like." This from a mistress who carried her
administration to the point of counting her fruits, and marking them so
as to order their consumption according to the number and condition of
each!

"I believe I'm dreaming," thought Josette, as she saw her mistress
flying down the staircase like an elephant to which God has given wings.

Presently, in spite of a driving rain, Mademoiselle Cormon drove away
from Prebaudet, leaving her factotums with the reins on their necks.
Jacquelin dared not take upon himself to hasten the usual little trot
of the peaceable Penelope, who, like the beautiful queen whose name she
bore, had an appearance of making as many steps backward as she made
forward. Impatient with the pace, mademoiselle ordered Jacquelin in a
sharp voice to drive at a gallop, with the whip, if necessary, to the
great astonishment of the poor beast, so afraid was she of not having
time to arrange the house suitably to receive Monsieur de Troisville.
She calculated that the grandson of her uncle's friend was probably
about forty years of age; a soldier just from service was undoubtedly
a bachelor; and she resolved, her uncle aiding, not to let Monsieur
de Troisville quit their house in the condition he entered it. Though
Penelope galloped, Mademoiselle Cormon, absorbed in thoughts of her
trousseau and the wedding-day, declared again and again that Jacquelin
made no way at all. She twisted about in the carriole without replying
to Josette's questions, and talked to herself like a person who is
mentally revolving important designs.

The carriole at last arrived in the main street of Alencon, called the
rue Saint-Blaise at the end toward Montagne, but near the hotel du More
it takes the name of the rue de la Porte-de-Seez, and becomes the rue
du Bercail as it enters the road to Brittany. If the departure of
Mademoiselle Cormon made a great noise in Alencon, it is easy to imagine
the uproar caused by her sudden return on the following day, in a
pouring rain which beat her face without her apparently minding it.
Penelope at a full gallop was observed by every one, and Jacquelin's
grin, the early hour, the parcels stuffed into the carriole topsy-turvy,
and the evident impatience of Mademoiselle Cormon wer