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CHAPTER VII
THE TRAVELLER ON
HIS ARRIVAL TAKES
PRECAUTIONS FOR
DEPARTURE
It was nearly eight o’clock in the evening when the cart,
which we left on the road, entered the porte-cochere of the
Hotel de la Poste in Arras; the man whom we have been fol-
lowing up to this moment alighted from it, responded with
an abstracted air to the attentions of the people of the inn,
sent back the extra horse, and with his own hands led the
little white horse to the stable; then he opened the door of
a billiard-room which was situated on the ground floor, sat
down there, and leaned his elbows on a table; he had tak-
en fourteen hours for the journey which he had counted on
making in six; he did himself the justice to acknowledge
that it was not his fault, but at bottom, he was not sorry.
The landlady of the hotel entered.
‘Does Monsieur wish a bed? Does Monsieur require sup-
436 Les Miserables
