Page 1089 - les-miserables

Theodule had no excessive taste for this sort of spying;
but he was much touched by the ten louis, and he thought
he saw a chance for a possible sequel. He accepted the com-
mission and said: ‘As you please, aunt.’
And he added in an aside, to himself: ‘Here I am a du-
enna.’
Mademoiselle Gillenormand embraced him.
‘You are not the man to play such pranks, Theodule. You
obey discipline, you are the slave of orders, you are a man of
scruples and duty, and you would not quit your family to go
and see a creature.’
The lancer made the pleased grimace of Cartouche when
praised for his probity.
Marius, on the evening following this dialogue, mount-
ed the diligence without suspecting that he was watched. As
for the watcher, the first thing he did was to fall asleep. His
slumber was complete and conscientious. Argus snored all
night long.
At daybreak, the conductor of the diligence shouted:
‘Vernon! relay of Vernon! Travellers for Vernon!’ And Lieu-
tenant Theodule woke.
‘Good,’ he growled, still half asleep, ‘this is where I get
out.’
Then, as his memory cleared by degrees, the effect of
waking, he recalled his aunt, the ten louis, and the account
which he had undertaken to render of the deeds and pro-
ceedings of Marius. This set him to laughing.
‘Perhaps he is no longer in the coach,’ he thought, as he
rebuttoned the waistcoat of his undress uniform. ‘He may

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