Be
sure and be here to-morrow."
She shook hands with me, across the prostrate form of the rheumatic
Frenchman, who smiled, and murmured, "_Bien, bien, mes anges_," and she
assured me that I might expect her on the morrow.
XLV.
I MAKE COFFEE AND GET INTO HOT WATER.
I do not like to do anything which looks in the least underhanded, but I
must admit that I left that wretched cottage by the back door, and
taking a path through some woods, made a wide circuit before returning
to the village.
As soon as I reached my house, I called Walkirk from his writing, and
rapidly gave him instructions in regard to the execution of an idea
which had come into my mind during my brotherhood labors of the morning.
I told him to hasten to the scene of my building operations, and to take
away all the carpenters, painters, and plasterers he could crowd into a
two-horse wagon, and to go with them to the house of the rheumatic
Frenchman, from which I knew the sisters would have departed before he
reached it. I promised to join him there, and at the same time that he
set out on his errand, I hurried to a shop in the village, the owner of
which combined the occupations of cabinet maker and undertaker, and who
generally kept on hand a small stock of cheap furniture.
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