noon
Charlotte remembered that she had heard Gregoire go downstairs again , almost immediately after entering his bedroom , and before the servants had even bolted the house-doors for the night . He had certainly rushed off to join Therese in some coppice , whence they must have hurried away to Vieux-Bourg station which the last train to Paris quitted at five-and-twenty minutes past midnight . And it was indeed this which had taken place . At noon the Froments already learnt that Lepailleur was creating a terrible scandal about the flight of Therese . He had immediately gone to the gendarmes to shout the story to them , and demand that they should bring the guilty hussy back , chained to her accomplice , and both of them with gyves about their wrists . He on his side had found a letter in his daughter 's bedroom , a plucky letter in which she plainly said that as she had been struck again the previous day , she had had enough of it , and was going off of her own free will . Indeed , she added that she was taking Gregoire with her , and was quite big and old enough , now that she was two-and-twenty , to know what she was about .