two in the morning
In a very short time she reached the quays . Her steps were rapid and agitated ; she scarcely felt the weakness which reminded her of having sprained her foot when very young , and which obliged her to limp slightly . At any other hour in the day her countenance would have awakened the suspicions of the least clear-sighted persons , or have attracted the attention of the most indifferent passers-by . But at half-past two in the morning , the streets of Paris are almost , if not quite , deserted , and scarcely any one is to be seen but the hard-working artisan on his way to earn his daily bread , or the dangerous idlers of the streets , who are returning to their homes after a night of riot and debauchery : for the former the day was beginning , for the latter it was just closing . La Valliere was afraid of those faces , in which her ignorance of Parisian types did not permit her to distinguish the type of probity from that of dishonesty . The appearance of misery alarmed her , and all whom she met seemed wretched and miserable . Her toilet , which was the same she had worn during the previous evening , was elegant even in its careless disorder : for it was the one in which she had presented herself to the queen-mother ; and , moreover , when she drew aside the mantle which covered her face in order to enable her to see the way she was going , her pallor and her beautiful eyes spoke an unknown language to the men she met , and , ignorantly , the poor fugitive seemed to invite the brutal remarks of the one class , or to appeal to the compassion of the other .