nine o’clock
She consoled herself , I believe , with an actor from some theatre or other . I went out for dinner and came back almost immediately . I had a fire lit in my room and I told Joseph he could go out . I can give you no idea of the different impressions which agitated me during the hour in which I waited ; but when , toward nine o'clock , I heard a ring , they thronged together into one such emotion , that , as I opened the door , I was obliged to lean against the wall to keep myself from falling . Fortunately the anteroom was in half darkness , and the change in my countenance was less visible . Marguerite entered . She was dressed in black and veiled .