On the following day, he took her to a furnished room, commonplace but cheerful, which he had selected on the first floor of a house facing the square, near the Bibliotheque Nationale.

In the centre of the square stood the basin of a fountain, supported by lusty nymphs.

The paths, bordered with laurel and spindlewood, were deserted, and from this little-frequented spot one heard the vast and reassuring hum of the city.

The rehearsal had finished very late.

When they entered the room the night, already slower to arrive in this season of melting snow, was beginning to cast its gloom over the hangings.