Ten o'clock
Meanwhile the goldsmiths had failed to keep their promise , and the bed was not delivered till one day about the middle of January . Muffat was just then in Normandy , whither he had gone to sell a last stray shred of property , but Nana demanded four thousand francs forthwith . He was not due in Paris till the day after tomorrow , but when his business was once finished he hastened his return and without even paying a flying visit in the Rue Miromesnil came direct to the Avenue de Villiers . Ten o'clock was striking . As he had a key of a little door opening on the Rue Cardinet , he went up unhindered . In the drawing room upstairs Zoe , who was polishing the bronzes , stood dumfounded at sight of him , and not knowing how to stop him , she began with much circumlocution , informing him that M. Venot , looking utterly beside himself , had been searching for him since yesterday and that he had already come twice to beg her to send Monsieur to his house if Monsieur arrived at Madame 's before going home . Muffat listened to her without in the least understanding the meaning of her recital ; then he noticed her agitation and was seized by a sudden fit of jealousy of which he no longer believed himself capable .