idegroom,
dutifully next to her; Mademoiselle Rose, the bride, bashfully next to
him; Monsieur Trudaine, the amateur apothecary brother, affectionately
next to her; and Monsieur Lomaque, our queer land-steward, officially in
waiting on the whole party. There they all are indeed, incomprehensibly
wasting their time still in looking at nothing! Yes," continued Monsieur
Justin, lifting his eyes wearily, and staring hard, first up the river
at Rouen, then down the river at the setting sun; "yes, plague take
them! looking at nothing, absolutely and positively at nothing, all this
while."

Here Monsieur Justin yawned again, and, returning to the garden, sat
himself down in an arbor and resignedly went to sleep.

If the valet had ventured near the five persons whom he had been
apostrophizing from a distance, and if he had been possessed of some
little refinement of observation, he could hardly have failed to remark
that the bride and bridegroom of the morrow, and their companions on
either side, were all, in a greater or less degree, under the influence
of some secret restraint, which affected their conversation, their
gestures, and even the expression of their faces. Madame Danville--a
handsome, richly-dressed old lady, with very bright eyes, and a quick,
suspicious manner--looked composedly and happily enough, as long as her
attention was fixed on her son. But when she turned from him toward
the bride, a hardly perceptible uneasiness passed over her face--an
uneasiness which only deepened to positive distrust and dissatisfaction
whenever she looked toward Mademoiselle Trudaine's brother. In the same
way, her son, who was all smiles and happiness while he was speaking
with his future wife, altered visibly in manner and look exactly as his
mother altered, whenever the presence of Monsieur Trudaine specially
impressed itself on his attention. Then, again, Lomaque, the
land-steward--quiet, sharp, skinny Lomaque, with the submissive
manner, and the red-rimmed eyes--never looked up at his master's
future brother-in-law without looking away again rather uneasily, and
thoughtfully drilling holes in the grass with his long sharp-pointed
cane. Even the bride herself--the pretty, innocent girl, with her
childish shyness of manner--seemed to be affected like the others.
Doubt, if not distress, overshadowed her face from time to time, and the
hand which her lover held trembled a little, and grew restless, when she
accidentally caught h