the unexpected inheritance that had accrued to
him.

After entering into correspondence with the notary, M. Arbillot, and
becoming assured of the reality of his rights and of the necessity of his
presence at Vivey, he had obtained leave of absence from his official
duties, and set out for Haute Marne. On the way, he could not help
marvelling at the providential interposition which would enable him to
leave a career for which he felt he had no vocation, and to pursue his
independent life, according to his own tastes, and secured from any fear
of outside cares. According to the account given by the notary, Claude de
Buxieres's fortune might be valued at two hundred thousand francs, in
furniture and other movables, without reckoning the chateau and the
adjacent woods. This was a much larger sum than had ever been dreamed of
by Julien de Buxieres, whose belongings did not amount in all to three
thousand francs. He made up his mind, therefore, that, as soon as he was
installed at Vivey, he would change his leave of absence to an unlimited
furlough of freedom. He contemplated with serene satisfaction this
perspective view of calm and solitary retirement in a chateau lost to
view in the depths of the forest, where he could in perfect security give
himself up to the studious contemplative life which he loved so much, far
from all worldly frivolities and restraint. He already imagined himself
at Vivey, shut up in his carefully selected library; he delighted in the
thought of having in future to deal only with the country people, whose
uncivilized ways would be like his own, and among whom his timidity would
not be remarked.

He arrived at Langres in the afternoon of a foggy October day, and
inquired immediately at the hotel how he could procure a carriage to take
him that evening to Vivey. They found him a driver, but, to his surprise,
the man refused to take the journey until the following morning, on
account of the dangerous state of the crossroads, where vehicles might
stick fast in the mire if they ventured there after nightfall. Julien
vainly endeavored to effect an arrangement with him, and the discussion
was prolonged in the courtyard of the hotel. Just as the man was turning
away, another, who had overheard the end of the colloquy, came up to
young de Buxieres, and offered to undertake the journey for twenty
francs.

"I have a good horse," said he to Julien; "I know the roads, and will
guarantee that we reach Vivey be