A quarter of an hour later I was once more in my own quarters, and I wrote to Marguerite:
“Some one, who repents of a letter that he wrote yesterday and who will leave Paris to-morrow if you do not forgive him, wishes to know at what hour he might lay his repentance at your feet.
“When can he find you alone? for, you know, confessions must be made without witnesses.”
I folded this kind of madrigal in prose, and sent it by Joseph, who handed it to Marguerite herself; she replied that she would send the answer later.
I only went out to have a hasty dinner, and at eleven in the evening no reply had come. I made up my mind to endure it no longer, and to set out next day. In consequence of this resolution, and convinced that I should not sleep if I went to bed, I began to pack up my things.
Chapter XV
It was hardly an hour after Joseph and I had begun preparing for my departure, when there was a violent ring at the door.
“Shall I go to the door?” said Joseph.
“Go,” I said, asking myself who it could be at such an hour, and not daring to believe that it was Marguerite.
“Sir,” said Joseph coming back to me, “it is two ladies.”