Nine o'clock
From sheer terror , or lack of intelligence , she did not dare to speak or to look at him . She went slowly on ; the man slackened his pace and fell behind so that he could still keep her in sight . He might have been her very shadow . Nine o'clock struck as the silent man and woman passed again by the Church of Saint Laurent . It is in the nature of things that calm must succeed to violent agitation , even in the weakest soul ; for if feeling is infinite , our capacity to feel is limited . So , as the stranger lady met with no harm from her supposed persecutor , she tried to look upon him as an unknown friend anxious to protect her . She thought of all the circumstances in which the stranger had appeared , and put them together , as if to find some ground for this comforting theory , and felt inclined to credit him with good intentions rather than bad .