three o'clock
This time I had a more important object in view than trying to fatigue my body and divert my mind . My eyes are multiplied to infinity ; they questioned at once every window , door , alley , street , carriage and store in the city . I was like the miser who accused all Paris of having stolen his treasure . At three o'clock , when all the beauty and fashion of Paris was promenading on Paix aux Panoramas street , I was stopped on the corner and button-holed by one of those gossiping friends whom fiendish chance always sends at the most trying moments in life in order to disgust us with friendship ... A dazzling form passed before me ... Irene alone possesses that graceful ease , that fairy-like step , that queenly dignity -- I could recognise her among a thousand -- it was useless for her to attempt disguising her exquisite elegance beneath a peasant dress -- besides I caught her eye , so all doubts were swept away ; several precious minutes were lost in trying to shake off my vexatious friend . I abruptly bade him good-day and darted after Irene , but she has the foot of a gazelle , and the crowd was so compact that in spite of my elbowing and foot-crushing , I made but little headway . Finally , through an opening in the crowd , I saw Mlle. , de Chateaudun turn the corner and enter that narrow street near the Cafe Vernon . This time she can not possibly escape me -- she is in a long , narrow street , with deserted galleries on either side -- circumstances are propitious to a meeting and explanation -- in a minute I am in the narrow street a few yards behind Irene .