At twelve I was on the point of keeping the appointment as if nothing had happened.

In the end I could see no way out of the circle of fire which closed upon me.
Then I began to believe, with the superstition which people have when they are waiting, that if I went out for a little while, I should find an answer when I got back.

I went out under the pretext of going to lunch.
Instead of lunching at the Cafe Foy, at the corner of the Boulevard, as I usually did, I preferred to go to the Palais Royal and so pass through the Rue d'Antin.

Every time that I saw a woman at a distance, I fancied it was Nanine bringing me an answer.

I passed through the Rue d'Antin without even coming across a commissionaire.