noon
M. Ferrand is a bad man . ' You see , mademoiselle , my intention was good , but my conduct culpable . I conceal nothing from you , but this is my excuse . By dint of saving for a long time I had realised , and placed with a banker , the sum of fifteen hundred francs , but the cashier of the banker never came to the office before noon . Morel was to be arrested at daybreak , and therefore it was necessary that she should have the money so as to pay it in good time ; if not , even if I could have gone in the day to release him from prison , still he would be arrested and carried off in presence of his wife , whom such a blow must have killed . Besides , the heavy costs of the writ would have been added to the expenses of the lapidary . You will understand , I dare say , that all these new misfortunes would not have befallen me if I had been able to restore the thirteen hundred francs I had taken back again to the bureau before M. Ferrand discovered anything ; unfortunately , I fell into that mistake .