nine in the morning
He rejoiced that the enemies of _ the Just _ , conspiring for his ruin , had prepared his triumph ; he blessed the Revolutionary Tribunal , which acquitting the Friend of the People had given back to the Convention the most zealous and most immaculate of its legislators . Again his eyes could see the head racked with fever , garlanded with the civic crown , the features instinct with virtuous pride and pitiless love , the worn , ravaged , powerful face , the close-pressed lips , the broad chest , the strong man dying by inches who , raised aloft in the living chariot of his triumph , seemed to exhort his fellow-citizens : `` Be ye like me , -- patriots to the death ! '' The street was empty , darkening with the shadows of approaching night ; the lamplighter went by with his cresset , and Gamelin muttered to himself : `` Yes , to the death ! '' By nine in the morning Évariste reached the gardens of the Luxembourg , to find Élodie already there seated on a bench waiting for him . It was a month ago they had exchanged their vows and since then they had seen each other every day , either at the _ Amour peintre _ or at the studio in the Place de Thionville . Their meetings had been very tender , but at the same time characterized by a certain reserve that checked their expansiveness , -- a reserve due to the staid and virtuous temper of the lover , a theist and a good citizen , who , while ready to make his beloved mistress his own before the law or with God alone for witness according as circumstances demanded , would do nothing save publicly and in the light of day . Élodie knew the resolution to be right and honourable ; but , despairing of a marriage that seemed impossible from every point of view and loath to outrage the prejudices of society , she contemplated in her inmost heart a liaison that could be kept a secret till the lapse of time gave it sanction .