about eight in the morning
`` Yes , madam , upon my honour . '' There was a long and painful silence , only broken at last by these words in a low voice : -- `` Let God 's will be done ! '' And with downcast eyes she withdrew . The day after this scene , about eight in the morning , I was pacing up and down in Hugh Lupus 's tower , thinking of the count 's illness , of which I could not foretell the issue -- and I was thinking too of my patients at Fribourg , whom I might lose by too prolonged an absence -- when three discreet taps upon my door turned my thoughts into another channel . `` Come in ! '' The door opened , and Marie Lagoutte stood within , dropping me a low curtsey . This old dame 's visit put me out , and I was going to beg her to postpone her visit , when something mysterious in her countenance caught my attention .