9 A.M.
Luckily , we have friends at Leipsic , Charlestown , and Batavia . '' This funny , old , sordid , ill-dressed man , with his livid and death-like countenance , thus crawling over the sphere before him , appeared still more awful than his master , when the latter , erect and haughty , had imperiously laid his hand upon that globe , which he seemed desirous of subjecting by the strength of his pride and courage . The one resembled the eagle , that hovers above his prey -- the other the reptile , that envelops its victim in its inextricable folds . After some minutes , Rodin approached his desk , rubbing his hands briskly together , and wrote the following epistle in a cipher unknown even to his master : `` Paris , 3/4 past 9 A.M. `` He is gone -- but he hesitated ! `` When he received the order , his dying mother had just summoned him to her . He might , they told him , save her by his presence ; and he exclaimed : ` Not to go to my mother would be matricide ! ' `` Still , he is gone -- but he hesitated .