It would be sufficient for him to detain the letters and distribute them only on the second day.
"What a knave," she muttered, when she reached the street, forgetting that she herself had just laid an interdict upon the mail.
She went home slowly, wrapped in thought.

She even went out of her way, passing along the Cours Sauvaire, as if to gain time and ease for reflection before going in.

Under the trees of the promenade she met Monsieur de Carnavant, who was taking advantage of the darkness to ferret about the town without compromising himself.

The clergy of Plassans, to whom all energetic action was distasteful, had, since the announcement of the Coup d'Etat, preserved absolute neutrality.

In the priests' opinion the Empire was virtually established, and they awaited an opportunity to resume in some new direction their secular intrigues.
The marquis, who had now become a useless agent, remained only inquisitive on one point--he wished to know how the turmoil would finish, and in what manner the Rougons would play their role to the end.
"Oh! it's you, little one!" he exclaimed, as soon as he recognized Felicite.