Between now and then I will decide upon my future." Moreau, deeply distressed in spite of his stern bearing, left the household in the rue de la Cerisaie to its despair.
Three days later Oscar drew the number twenty-seven.

In the interests of the poor lad the former steward of Presles had the courage to go to the Comte de Serizy and ask for his influence to get Oscar into the cavalry.
It happened that the count's son, having left the Ecole Polytechnique rather low in his class, was appointed, as a favor, sub-lieutenant in a regiment of cavalry commanded by the Duc de Maufrigneuse.

Oscar had, therefore, in his great misfortune, the small luck of being, at the Comte de Serizy's instigation, drafted into that noble regiment, with the promise of promotion to quartermaster within a year.

Chance had thus placed the ex-clerk under the command of the son of the Comte de Serizy.
Madame Clapart, after languishing for some days, so keenly was she affected by these catastrophes, became a victim to the remorse which seizes upon many a mother whose conduct has been frail in her youth, and who, in her old age, turns to repentance.

She now considered herself under a curse.