an hour before
noon
Out of the gloom of my cell my fancy fashioned her sweet girl face and stamped it with a look of gentle pity , of infinite sorrow for me and for the hand she had had in bringing me to this . That she loved me I was assured , and I swore that if I lived I would win her yet , in spite of every obstacle that I myself had raised for my undoing . I had hoped to lie some days in prison before being brought to trial , and that during those days Castelroux might have succeeded in discovering those who could witness to my identity . Conceive , therefore , something of my dismay when on the morrow I was summoned an hour before noon to go present myself to my judges . From the prison to the Palace I was taken in chains like any thief -- for the law demanded this indignity to be borne by one charged with the crimes they imputed to me . The distance was but short , yet I found it over-long , which is not wonderful considering that the people stopped to line up as I went by and to cast upon me a shower of opprobrious derision -- for Toulouse was a very faithful and loyal city . It was within some two hundred yards of the Palace steps that I suddenly beheld a face in the crowd , at the sight of which I stood still in my amazement .