THREE HOURS
AFTER NOON
But he lacked that touch of nature and that power of sympathising with others which gave to such men as M. de Rosny and the king , my master , their peculiar charm ; though after what I have related of him in the last chapter it does not lie in my mouth to speak ill of him . And , indeed , he was a good man . When I at last reached my lodging , I found a surprise awaiting me in the shape of a note which had just arrived no one knew how . If the manner of its delivery was mysterious , however , its contents were brief and sufficiently explicit ; for it ; ran thus : ` SIR , BY MEETING ME THREE HOURS AFTER NOON IN THE SQUARE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF THE LITTLE SISTERS YOU WILL DO A SERVICE AT ONCE TO YOURSELF AND TO THE UNDERSIGNED , MARIE DE BRUHL . ' That was all , written in a feminine character , yet it was enough to perplex me . Simon , who had manifested the liveliest joy at my escape , would have had me treat it as I had treated the invitation to the Parvis of the Cathedral ; ignore it altogether I mean . But I was of a different mind , and this for three reasons , among others : that the request was straightforward , the time early , and the place sufficiently public to be an unlikely theatre for violence , though well fitted for an interview to which the world at large was not invited .