Do you see to the carriage; let it be close to the house with the door wide open when I come out, so that the postilion can't see me.

Here's the money to pay him for the first relay." And the stranger whom Baptiste had addressed as Baron handed him a handful of notes.
"Why, Monsieur," said the servant, "you have given me enough to pay all the way to Lyons!" "Pay him as far as Valence, under pretext that I want to sleep, and keep the rest for your trouble in settling the accounts." "Shall I put the valise in the carriage-box ?" "I will do so myself." And taking the valise from the servant's hands, without letting it be seen that it weighed heavily, he turned toward the dining-room, while Baptiste made his way toward the nearest inn, sorting his notes as he went.
As the stranger had said, the way was familiar to him, for he passed down a corridor, opened a first door without hesitation, then a second, and found himself before a table elegantly served.

A cold fowl, two partridges, a ham, several kinds of cheese, a dessert of magnificent fruit, and two decanters, the one containing a ruby-colored wine, and the other a yellow-topaz, made a breakfast which, though evidently intended for but one person, as only one place was set, might in case of need have sufficed for three or four.
The young man's first act on entering the dining-room was to go straight to a mirror, remove his hat, arrange his hair with a little comb which he took from his pocket; after which he went to a porcelain basin with a reservoir above it, took a towel which was there for the purpose, and bathed his face and hands.

Not until these ablutions were completed--characteristic of a man of elegant habits--not until these ablutions had been minutely performed did the stranger sit down to the table.
A few minutes sufficed to satisfy his appetite, to which youth and fatigue had, however, given magnificent proportions; and when Baptiste came in to inform the solitary guest that the carriage was ready he found him already afoot and waiting.
The stranger drew his hat low over his eyes, wrapped his coat about him, took the valise under his arm, and, as Baptiste had taken pains to lower the carriage-steps as close as possible to the door, he sprang into the post-chaise without being seen by the postilion.

Baptiste slammed the door after him; then, addressing the man in the top-boots: "Everything is paid to Valence, isn't it, relays and fees ?" he asked.
"Everything; do you want a receipt ?" replied the postilion, jokingly.
"No; but my master, the Marquise de Ribier, don't want to be disturbed until he gets to Valence." "All right," replied the postilion, in the same bantering tone, "the citizen Marquis shan't be disturbed.