y might
perhaps admit that misfortunes never overtake them until after they have
received either an actual or an occult warning. Many do not perceive the
deep meaning of such visible or invisible signs until after the disaster
is upon them.

"In any case, Madame la comtesse knows that I cannot leave the country
until I have given up a certain trust," said Michu in a low voice to
Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne.

For all answer she made him a sign of acquiescence, and he left the
room.

CHAPTER XII. THE FACTS OF A MYSTERIOUS AFFAIR

Michu sold his farm at once to Beauvisage, a farmer at Bellache, but he
was not to receive the money for twenty days. A month after the Marquis
de Chargeboeuf's visit, Laurence, who had told her cousins of their
buried fortune, proposed to them to take the day of the Mi-careme to
disinter it. The unusual quantity of snow which fell that winter had
hitherto prevented Michu from obtaining the treasure, and it now
gave him pleasure to undertake the operation with his masters. He was
determined to leave the neighborhood as soon as it was over, for he
feared himself.

"Malin has suddenly arrived at Gondreville, and no one knows why,"
he said to his mistress. "I shall never be able to resist putting the
property into the market by the death of its owner. I feel I am guilty
in not following my inspirations."

"Why should he leave Paris at this season?" said the countess.

"All Arcis is talking about it," replied Michu; "he has left his family
in Paris, and no one is with him but his valet. Monsieur Grevin, the
notary of Arcis, Madame Marion, the wife of the receiver-general, and
her sister-in-law are staying at Gondreville."

Laurence had chosen the mid-lent day for their purpose because it
enabled her to give her servants a holiday and so get them out of the
way. The usual masquerade drew the peasantry to the town and no one
was at work in the fields. Chance made its calculations with as much
cleverness as Mademoiselle de Cinq-Cygne made hers. The uneasiness of
Monsieur and Madame d'Hauteserre at the idea of keeping eleven hundred
thousand francs in gold in a lonely chateau on the borders of a forest
was likely to be so great that their sons advised they should know
nothing about it. The secret of the expedition was therefore confined to
Gothard, Michu, Laurence, and the four gentlemen.

After much consultation it seemed possible to put forty-eight thousand
francs in a long sack on the