midday
Few things are better calculated to curdle the milk of human kindness than to find that one 's fellow-man has meanly contrived to keep his reputation fair when one is satisfied it should be otherwise . Duchemin used bitter language in strict confidence with himself , disliked his dinner and , after conscientiously loathing the sights of Millau for an hour or two , sought his bed in the devil 's own humour . Though he waited till eleven of the following forenoon , there was no supplementary telegram : London evidently meant him to understand that the Surété in Paris had communicated nothing to the discredit of Monsieur le Comte de Lorgnes and his consort . Enquiry of the administration of the Hôtel de Commerce elicited the information that the Monk party had stopped there on the night of the storm , doubled back in the morning to visit Montpellier-le-Vieux , returning for midday déjeuner , and had then proceeded for Paris , just like any other well-behaved company of tourists . There was nothing more to be done but go back to Nant and -- what made it even more disgusting -- nothing to be done there except ... wait ... Thoroughly disgruntled , more than half persuaded he had staked a claim for a mare 's - nest , he took the road in the heat of a day even more oppressive than its yesterday . In the valley of the Dourbie the air was stagnant , lifeless . After eight miles of it Duchemin was guilty of two mistakes of desperation .