Thus, she would have had to exculpate herself, and what I wanted was for her to exculpate herself.

I already realized that I should have believed whatever reasons she had given me, and anything was better than not to see her again.
At last I began to believe that she would come to see me herself; but hour followed hour, and she did not come.
Decidedly Marguerite was not like other women, for there are few who would have received such a letter as I had just written without answering it at all.
At five, I hastened to the Champs-Elysees.

"If I meet her," I thought, "I will put on an indifferent air, and she will be convinced that I no longer think about her." As I turned the corner of the Rue Royale, I saw her pass in her carriage.

The meeting was so sudden that I turned pale.

I do not know if she saw my emotion; as for me, I was so agitated that I saw nothing but the carriage.
I did not go any farther in the direction of the Champs-Elysees.