midnight
Esteem , respect , friendship may be won , lost , regained ; but as to love -- I might school myself for a thousand years , and it would not blossom again , especially for a woman too old to respond to it . '' `` I hope , Monsieur le Comte , I sincerely hope , that such words may not be spoken to you some day by the woman you love , and in such a tone and accent -- '' `` Will you put on a dress _ a la Grecque _ this evening , and come to the Opera ? '' The shudder with which the Countess received the suggestion was a mute reply . Early in December 1833 , a man , whose perfectly white hair and worn features seemed to show that he was aged by grief rather than by years , was walking at midnight along the Rue Gaillon . Having reached a house of modest appearance , and only two stories high , he paused to look up at one of the attic windows that pierced the roof at regular intervals . A dim light scarcely showed through the humble panes , some of which had been repaired with paper . The man below was watching the wavering glimmer with the vague curiosity of a Paris idler , when a young man came out of the house .