noon
When he had grasped them all in his hand he gave an involuntary side look at me and the motionless form beside me -- a look that he seemed unable to abstain from giving , though against his will . I met his glance , and he hurried away back to his own door , and went through it as a leper will shuffle and shamble away out of one 's sight . As soon as the morning came , I left the hotel without having tried the vain attempt of sleep , and did not return to it till the evening . At noon I called upon the publisher and explained that an unfortunate accident had occurred , and the MS. I had received back from him yesterday had been destroyed . At that he beamed upon me blandly , and remarked that such a thing was unfortunate , but that without doubt M'sieur would make all haste to re-copy it , and would let him have a new draft as soon as possible . I shook my head , feeling my lips and throat grow dry as I answered -- `` That which you had was the original , not a copy . I have no copy of it from which I can replace it . ''