noon
Of course M. d'Agen had no option but to leave me ; which he did , I could see , notwithstanding his easy and confident expressions , with a good deal of mistrust and apprehension . When he was gone , La Varenne lost no time in carrying out the remainder of his orders . As a consequence I found myself confined to a small and gloomy apartment which looked , at a distance of three paces , upon the smooth face of the rock on which the Castle stood . This change , from a window which commanded all the life of the town , and intercepted every breath of popular fancy , to a closet whither no sounds penetrated , and where the very transition from noon to evening scarcely made itself known , could not fail to depress my spirits sensibly ; the more as I took it to be significant of a change in my fortunes fully as grave . Reflecting that I must now appear to the King of Navarre in the light of a bearer of false tidings , I associated the order to confine me more closely with his return from St. Cloud ; and comprehending that M. de Turenne was once more at liberty to attend to my affairs , I began to look about me with forebodings which were none the less painful because the parole I had given debarred me from any attempt to escape . Sleep and habit enabled me , nevertheless , to pass the night in comfort . Very early in the morning a great firing of guns , which made itself heard even in my quarters , led me to suppose that Paris had surrendered ; but the servant who brought me my breakfast ; declined in a surly fashion to give me any information .