nd it half an hour later. She imagined that his mind being
so full of the original, he had forgotten the copy, and representing to
herself the sorrow which the discovery of this forgetfulness would cause
him, she sent for a servant, gave him the picture, and ordered him to
take horse and ride after the chevalier's chaise. The man took a
post-horse, and, making great speed, perceived the fugitive in the
distance just as the latter had finished changing horses. He made
violent signs and shouted loudly, in order to stop the postillion. But
the postillion having told his fare that he saw a man coming on at full
speed, the chevalier supposed himself to be pursued, and bade him go on
as fast as possible. This order was so well obeyed that the unfortunate
servant only came up with the chaise a league and a half farther on;
having stopped the postillion, he got off his horse, and very
respectfully presented to the chevalier the picture which he had been
bidden to bring him. But the chevalier, having recovered from his first
alarm, bade him go about his business, and take back the portrait--which
was of no use to him--to the sender. The servant, however, like a
faithful messenger, declared that his orders were positive, and that he
should not dare go back to Madame d'Urban without fulfilling them. The
chevalier, seeing that he could not conquer the man's determination, sent
his postillion to a farrier, whose house lay on the road, for a hammer
and four nails, and with his own hands nailed the portrait to the back of
his chaise; then he stepped in again, bade the postillion whip up his
horses, and drove away, leaving Madame d'Urban's messenger greatly
astonished at the manner in which the chevalier had used his mistress's
portrait.

At the next stage, the postillion, who was going back, asked for his
money, and the chevalier answered that he had none. The postillion
persisted; then the chevalier got out of his chaise, unfastened Madame
d'Urban's portrait, and told him that he need only put it up for sale in
Avignon and declare how it had come into his possession, in order to
receive twenty times the price of his stage; the postillion, seeing that
nothing else was to be got out of the chevalier, accepted the pledge,
and, following his instructions precisely, exhibited it next morning at
the door of a dealer in the town, together with an exact statement of the
story. The picture was bought back the same day for twenty-five