half past nine
I gave it to her , and , free then to go , I returned home . Marguerite had not answered . I need not tell you in what state of agitation I spent the next day . At half past nine a messenger brought me an envelope containing my letter and the five-hundred-franc note , not a word more . `` Who gave you this ? '' I asked the man . `` A lady who was starting with her maid in the next mail for Boulogne , and who told me not to take it until the coach was out of the courtyard . ''