future home? or was she only brought here
temporarily, to be afterwards taken up to the plantation?

Some thought, or instinct perhaps, whispered me that she was not to
remain in the Rue Bienville; but would be carried to the gloomy old
mansion at Bringiers. I cannot tell why I thought so. Perhaps it was
because I wished it so.

I saw the necessity of watching the house--so that she might not be
taken away without my knowing it. Wherever she went I was determined to
follow.

Fortunately I was prepared for any journey. The three thousand dollars
lent me by D'Hauteville remained intact. With that I could travel to
the ends of the earth.

I wished that the young Creole had been with me. I wanted his counsel--
his company. How should I find him? he had not said where we should
meet--only that he would join me when the sale should be over. I saw
nothing of him on leaving the Rotundo. Perhaps he meant to meet me
there or at my hotel; but how was I to get back to either of these
places without leaving my post?

I was perplexed as to how I should communicate with D'Hauteville. It
occurred to me that the hackney-coachman--I had not yet dismissed him--
might remain and watch the house, while I went in search of the Creole.
I had only to pay the Jehu; he would obey me, of course, and right
willingly.

I was about arranging with the man, and had already given him some
instructions, when I heard wheels rumbling along the street; and a
somewhat old-fashioned coach, drawn by a pair of mules, turned into the
Rue Bienville. A negro driver was upon the box.

There was nothing odd in all this. Such a carriage and such a coachman
were to be seen every hour in New Orleans, and drawn by mules as often
as horses. But this pair of mules, and the negro who drove them, I
recognised.

Yes! I recognised the equipage. I had often met it upon the Levee Road
near Bringiers. It was the carriage of Monsieur Dominique!

I was further assured upon this point by seeing the vehicle draw up in
front of the avocat's house.

I at once gave up my design of going back for D'Hauteville. Climbing
back into the hack, I ensconced myself in such a position, that I could
command a view of what passed in the Rue Bienville.

Some one was evidently about to become the occupant of the carriage.
The door of the house stood open, and a servant was speaking to the
coachman. I could tell by the actions of the latter, that he expected
soon to